


Focus

by FemaleSpock



Series: The Empire has Two Faces [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Anal Sex, Angst, Blood, Blow Jobs, Breathplay, Dysfunctional Relationships, Enemies to Lovers, First Time, Glove Kink, Hand Jobs, Insomnia, Kylo Ren-centric, M/M, Manipulation, Sexual Tension, Submissive Kylo Ren, more plot than the tags imply
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-21
Updated: 2016-02-22
Packaged: 2018-05-15 09:36:00
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 40,147
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5780830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FemaleSpock/pseuds/FemaleSpock
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Even after everything, Kylo still feels the call of the light, but there's one person who fuels his rage like no other.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Phasma had asked him once what 'the light side of the force' felt like. She'd said it mockingly - though she was smart enough to understand the usefulness of the force in certain situations (she'd seen enough interrogations to testify to that) - she had little understanding of the spiritual aspects. It was just one tool among many that could be used to bend others to the will of the First Order. He hadn't dignified that with much of a response. In fact, he'd snorted. It only seemed fitting that a mocking question got a mocking answer. Truth was, she wouldn't have understood even if he had told her, but the answer had burned inside him nevertheless.

 

Guilt. The Light side felt like guilt. 

 

It was there to greet him when he woke up, like a pile of snakes twisting in his gut. He'd centre his thoughts. Meditate. He'd focus his thoughts around a physical object. The charred skull of a helmet was always enough to set him back on his path. He knew Uncle Luke would be horrified to think of him using his techniques this way. That was all the better. He’d put this burden on Kylo’s shoulders with his constant criticism. Kylo was always too angry, too unfocused, too _unstable_ in his uncle's eyes.

 

“Your parents are worried about you.” That was always Luke’s favourite line.

 

He’d far outstripped Luke’s other Jedi apprentices in terms of swordplay but time after time, he’d been held back. Back then he thought it was his own fault. He’d grown up with so many stories about his uncle: the perfect Jedi, the man who'd saved the galaxy, the son who'd 'redeemed' his father. A liar. Snoke had told him the truth, the truth that Luke had hidden from everyone whilst he played at being hero. The truth about Vader’s death; the truth about Vader’s life. Vader had been strong. He’d been Anakin Skywalker once, fettered by the absurd teachings of a weak-willed council, until he embraced his anger and shed his shackles. Snoke had offered him the same path and for the first time he could remember, the way ahead of him had seemed clear. He was free, free to reject the guilt that his dear uncle was always trying to push onto him to cover the shame at what he had done. No more.

 

But the guilt was waiting for him when he went to bed. The image of his parents’ faces still haunted him. They’d told him that it was going to be fun, that his uncle would help him fulfil his potential, but he could see the concern in his mother’s eyes. Concern that not even Luke would be able to fix whatever was wrong with him. She’d hugged him close and then sent him away. He’d gotten into the ship and stood in front of the window, trying to be brave. They waved at him. His father’s arm was wrapped casually around his mother, pulling her close, but his mouth was set into a grim line.

 

“Your parents are worried about you.”

 

So worried they’d washed their hands of him the second he failed to live up to expectations. So he’d done what he needed to do; he’d done onto his father as his father had onto him.

 

His father had touched his face before he fell.

 

It usually took hours to find sleep.

 

* * *

 

 

Kylo Ren was woken abruptly from the sleep by the presence of an intruder in his room. He bolted up, senses on high alert, only to be greeted by the sneering face of General Hux.

 

He ran his fingers through his hair, pulling it away from his face. Irritation flared. “Don’t you believe in knocking?”

 

Hux was staring at him, at his face. They’d worked together for years but Hux rarely saw him without the mask. Whenever he caught Kylo Ren mask-less he stared like he was trying to integrate the face into the mental image he held of him. Kylo hated how uncomfortable it always made him feel.

 

“I have tried to call you on your comm-link seven times in the past four hours. Phasma banged on your door for a good ten minutes; it is fortunate for you that I told her that I would come to wake you.”

 

Phasma probably would have dragged him out of bed by the heels. He’d heard many a stormtrooper complain about the punishments she doled out to those who deviated even in the slightest from her strict schedule. It was times like this that he thought that maybe Hux and Phasma would be perfect for each other. They could have the most meticulously planned wedding ever and settle into a life of passionless order. He suppressed a smile at the image. He grabbed for his helmet from the shelf above his bed and pulled it over his head, hiding his expression _. Ah, that was better_.

 

Hux continued to speak, as though he hadn’t noticed. Which he had. “Your presence was required in conference room 501 at 0900. I made allowances for your lateness during the period of your injury but since you are fully recovered, it is essential that you attend meetings so we can start the construction of the second Starkiller base as quickly as possible.”

 

He had no real excuse for his lateness, so appealing to Hux’s pride seemed like the best plan. He didn’t especially care what the General thought but he didn’t need Hux tattling to Snoke again. He still needed Snoke to guide him. “Are you saying that you couldn’t manage without my input? Or were you just desperate to see me?”

 

There was a sudden flash of some emotion from Hux that quickly disappeared behind an icy façade. Kylo rarely sensed anything from Hux beyond a vague sense of annoyance directed his way but he’d felt a definite _something_ then. Something Hux seemed eager to cover.

 

Hux pursed his lips, a sure sign of irritation. “In case it slipped your notice, our last base was destroyed by that band of rebels. And if I recall, amongst their gang was a force-sensitive girl who seemed to have little trouble keeping up with you.”

 

“I was injured,” Kylo hissed, jumping out of bed to stand mask to face with Hux. “And if she won’t turn, I’ll finish her next time.”

 

There it was again! The tremor of feeling – or whatever it was! Kylo grasped for it with his mind, hoping for a weapon to use against the General, but it vanished again. Useless frustration welled up inside of him and he could feel dark strength coursing through his veins once again.

 

Hux took a small step forward.  “That is exactly why we need you to come to meetings. Guarding against such threats is supposed to be your area of expertise.”

 

It wasn’t conciliatory, exactly, but it was edging dangerously close to it. A game was being played here and he needed to know what it was. Oh how he longed to interrogate the man, to strap him down, to break his iron clad-defences and exploit every emotion he pretended not to have.  Unfortunately, Snoke had made it clear that, though the average stormtrooper was expendable enough that he could do what he wanted with, command was not to be touched – they were needed to run the new Empire.

 

He mustered all his self control and spoke. “I can see that my presence is needed. I will come with you presently."

 

As they left, Hux muttered something that sounded a lot like ‘I can’t believe he sleeps in that stupid robe.’

 

Kylo clenched his fist but said nothing. It was going to be a long day.

 

* * *

 

 

Kylo Ren knelt in front of the hologram of his master, bowing his head.

 

“You summoned me, master?”

 

“You have recovered well, my apprentice. I sense in you much fury. You have severed the first shackle and are well on your way to fighting off the corruption of the light.”

 

He kept his head bowed. “What must I do now?”

 

“You must end the poisonous influence of your former master; you must kill Skywalker and prevent the spread of his lies.”

 

His head snapped up. “It will be done, master.”

 

“And how do you plan to accomplish this?”

 

“I will hunt down the rebels and discover the location of Skywalker…” he started.

 

Snoke gestured for him to be silent and he stopped.

 

“By now the rebels will already have him in their custody. You will do nothing. You will stay here and oversee the construction of the second Starkiller base." He paused for a moment and then continued.  “They will come to you and you will be waiting for them. In the meantime we will continue our training. You have proved yourself most adept at Force Persuasion; I think that you are ready to take it a step further. You will soon learn the art of creating dark illusions in the minds of your opponents.”

 

He tried not to sound too pleased as he said: “I am ready for your training.”

 

“Good. Then we may begin.” He gestured to a door at the back of the room. “Fetch the prisoner.”

 

* * *

 

 

He was exhausted when he got back to his room that night. He’d been practicing with Snoke for hours on end, trying to get it right. It was easy enough to get into someone’s mind, to plant an image there, but he was having trouble making it stick. He would put horrific visions in the man’s head – visions of his home destroyed and his friends and family dead. The man would scream and scream and then he’d stop. His breathing would steady and his eyes would glaze over. Something always tipped him off – a misplaced detail or the heightened colours – it just wasn’t right.

 

Snoke had told him that he was making progress but he still wasn’t satisfied. He turned it over and over in his mind. It was so hard to dissect the thoughts and hold the nuances there for long enough to be convincing. It was hard to ignore the instinct just to crash in there and overpower the prisoner’s mind with pure Force. Lightsaber combat was just so much easier; no thinking, just pure motion.

 

He shifted in his bed. His robes bunched uncomfortably on once side. He shifted again, pulling them straight. He tried to lie still. He’d heard that if you were completely still for 15 minutes, you would automatically fall asleep. His arm itched. He bolted up and tugged his sleeve up, scratching the skin until it was red, and then dropped back onto the mattress. The neckline of his robes had flopped down around his chin. He dragged it down, wincing as he heard a little ripping sound. At this point he was tempted just to take them off but he remembered General Hux’s damn comment and resolved that he was going to keep them on, no matter. The last thing he wanted was for the General to march in there again and find him sleeping in boxer shorts. His face twisted a little imagining. He’d see it as a victory, a sign that Kylo was finally doing as he was told.

 

Irritation bubbled up again. The General was always trying to exert his power over the station. Nothing lived up to his standards of sterile conformity; he could spot a scuff on a Stormtrooper’s boots from a foot away. And now he was indirectly dictating what Kylo Ren, the strongest Force sensitive in a generation, did or didn’t do in his own room!

 

That was it! He leapt out of bed. He wasn’t sleeping anytime soon so he might as well get some satisfaction. He put on the helmet and summoned his lightsaber to his hand. He stormed out of his room and down the corridors, past silent stormtroopers flinching away from his as they past him, right down to General Hux’s room. He stood outside the door and activated his lightsaber – it hummed pleasantly in his hand – and slashed his blade into the control panel. There were white sparks, accompanied by a slight fizzling sound, and then all the lights on the control panel went dark.

 

He stood there for a moment, his ragged breath slowing as he felt the tension leave his body. That’d show Hux. He doubted he’d be there when he discovered that he was locked out of his room but imaging the look on his face was satisfaction enough. He retreated to his room and took off the helmet, and, after a moment’s consideration, he shed the robes as well. Hux would be far too preoccupied with fixing his previous control panel to bother Kylo tomorrow, that was if he could even get out of his room.

 

He got back into bed and closed his eyes, falling asleep almost instantly.

 

* * *

 

 

The doors opened before he had a chance to do anything. Panic-stricken, he jerked upright and found himself looking right at General Hux. His lip was quivering, an extreme display of emotion by Hux’s standards. Kylo glanced at the clock. 0600 hours. Three hours before he was due anywhere. What the hell?

 

“I don’t know what you thought you were doing but did you really think that I wouldn’t know it was you?”

 

Kylo just looked at Hux blankly, before it all came flooding back to him: the late-night walkabout and the destruction of Hux’s stupid control panel. It had seemed like a good idea at the time, but then again, he hadn’t counted on Hux being up so early.

 

“What _time_ did you wake up?” he mumbled, yawning. His eyes felt half-glued shut.

 

Hux’s voice was icy. “Unlike some, I don’t have the time to lie around in bed all day, and I certainly don’t have the time to destroy the property of our own organisation.”

 

“If I tell you I won’t do it again, will you go away?” he said, resisting the urge to pull the covers up over his face. He couldn’t have had more than three hours of sleep.

 

“I have a team working on the panel but, for the time being, I am locked out of my room, in which several crucial materials are being held.”

 

All he wanted was for Hux to go away and leave him in peace. “And?”

 

“I cannot continue the work I had planned on doing until it is fixed. Therefore, I decided to move up the schedule and your presence is required immediately.”

 

Kylo groaned.

 

“Maybe next time you’ll think before you carelessly destroy other people’s property,” Hux said, in the clipped tones he used when he was feeling satisfied with himself.

 

When he made no sign of moving, Hux strode over to the control panel and turned the lights up to the highest brightness. “Get up.”

 

He rubbed his eyes but refused to move any further.

 

Hux shook his head and pressed a button on the side. The screech of static blasted through the room.

 

Kylo jumped out of bed and darted over to switch the damn thing off, his covers falling messily to the floor. He pressed the button and the noise disappeared. He turned his attention back to Hux. He had flinched, _actually physically flinched,_ as he had walked over. Now he was standing up ramrod straight and desperately trying to avoid his eye. It was like he was trying to look at him without letting Kylo know that he was doing so and again, Kylo had to think: what the hell? This was stormtrooper behaviour; Hux wasn’t usually one to be so easily intimidated.

 

He turned away to reach for his mask and oh. Right. He looked down at himself and back at Hux’s slightly flushed face. Well, this had been the exact situation he had wanted to avoid. When he was younger, one of the other Jedi apprentices, a little Ithorian girl, had told him once that he looked kind of funny. Since then, he’d only become more and more painfully aware that his physical appearance was the opposite of menacing. Hux actually looked embarrassed for him. He supposed the rumour that he had an eight-pack was thoroughly annihilated now. 

 

Curious despite himself, he reached out through the force. Embarrassment. Right. There it was. Kylo started to turn, to reach for his robes to cover himself as quickly as possible. Then there it was again, that feeling from before, strong and so closely twined with the embarrassment. Kylo’s head snapped around and it was his turn to stare at Hux.

 

No. It couldn’t be. But unless he was very mistaken it was: attraction. The General was practically squirming in his skin trying to keep it hidden. Kylo just stood there, completely at a loss at to what he should do with the new information. Nothing about this made sense, especially not at this ridiculously early hour. This was definitely not how he thought his morning would go.  

 

Hux coughed abruptly. “I will leave you to join us on your own time.” He turned abruptly and strode out of the room, looking like he was trying to flee in the most dignified manner possible and leaving Kylo there to stare at the door. Minutes passed and he decided that the right choice was definitely going straight back to bed. After all, he doubted Hux would be back there anytime soon.

 

* * *

 

 

Hux was acting completely normal by the time that Kylo got to the meeting room. He would have almost thought that he had been imagining things before but for the feelings he could still feel emanating from General Hux: very obvious feelings now that he had identified them. How had he not sensed this before?

 

In his defence, it still made no sense. He had never thought of Hux as the lustful type; he’d always seemed more like a machine than an actual human being. And why him? The man despised him – and that wasn’t just suspicion – he could feel it through the force. The feeling (the hatred, not the attraction) was mutual and Hux seemed to know that too, but it didn’t seem to matter. He supposed this was useful information, something he could definitely exploit, but the whole thing was just too confusing. Curse the General for muddling his thoughts with all this.

 

He kicked under the table, purely out of instinct, and hit Hux right in the shin. Hux didn’t say anything, didn’t even glare, and just shot Kylo a look to show that he was completely unimpressed and then swiftly redirected his attention back to the matter at hand. Phasma had been talking the whole time and was showing them her latest ideas about stormtrooper formations and Kylo realised that he hadn’t actually listened to a word she’d said since the meeting had started. This was entirely unfair: Hux was the one with the secret attraction and he was the one who ended up completely distracted.

 

Anger swelled uselessly in him. He couldn’t make a scene in there, not if it prompted more morning visits from General Hux. He crossed his arms in front of his chest and willed himself still. All he wanted was to get out of there and back to training, where he could take it all out on the prisoner. This was all such a waste of time; Phasma didn’t need or want his input. These things always made him feel like a useless bureaucrat. 

 

Somehow he managed to make it through the entire meeting without screaming or breaking something.

 

* * *

 

 

“You are angry, my apprentice.”

 

“Yes, Supreme Leader.”

 

“Use it. Try the prisoner again,” Snoke said, mildly.

 

Kylo looked into the prisoner’s eyes and saw only weariness reflected there. He took a breath and slowly reached into the subject’s mind.

 

* * *

 

 

He came back to his room a success. It had only taken him a couple of attempts before he’d managed to create a vision that convinced. The prisoner was a stubborn man, he’d struggled hard against the image projected in front of his eyes, but eventually he’d broken. Kylo could still hear his sobs now. Snoke had ordered him taken away and the sounds had carried even from down the corridor, just more faintly. Snoke had smiled benevolently at him all the while.

 

“You have done so well, apprentice. Each day, your power grows.” The words echoed pleasantly around his mind as he laid his head on the pillow.

 

He still couldn’t sleep. Despite the rather rude awakening at a ridiculous time in the morning, despite the fact that the day had ended so well, he still couldn’t find rest. The sobs were still playing in the background; the doubts were still rattling around his mind.

 

If General Hux hadn’t pissed him off, would he even have managed it at all? The thought was an unpleasant one but it rang true all the same.

 

He wondered how long this had been going on for the General. He wondered if Hux ever intended to act upon it, then answered his own question – no, of course not, the man would probably die before admitting that he was attracted to Kylo Ren, ‘liability of the First Order’, as he’d called him once. A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. He hadn’t exactly expected this but if he was going to spend his nights trapped in endless thought, he supposed there were worse things to ponder. 

 

In fact, this could be just what he needed.

 

He made a snap judgement and got himself out of bed and took himself down the familiar corridors again. By now, the stormtroopers were all quite aware of the control panel incident and were twitching anxiously as he passed, most likely quite unhappy at the prospect of any more conflict between their leaders.

 

“You will forget you saw me,” he commanded the one standing outside Hux’s room.

 

The stormtrooper said nothing and, confident that it had worked, Kylo swiped his pass against the newly fixed control panel. Sure enough, the doors slid open and Kylo entered swiftly.

 

He’d never actually been inside Hux’s room before but it was much as he had imagined: everything was immaculate, not an item out of place, perhaps not hard considering that there was nothing on the shelves but datapads and neatly folded clothing. Hux was in bed, eyes shut, apparently completely oblivious to the intrusion. He was lying flat on his back, his arms by his sides – even in sleep he looked regimented. Kylo walked over to the bed and wondered how long it would take for him to wake-up.

 

He leant over the bed but Hux still did not wake. Kylo considered his options. At this point, he could easily just walk away, forget the whole thing had ever happened, and no-one would ever know. Or he could just go ahead and wake Hux up and continue as planned. He was leaning towards the former when the choice was taken from him.

 

“Ren?” Hux said, eyes opening suddenly. He sounded confused but not especially perturbed by the situation. “What exactly do you think you’re doing?”

 

Kylo took a breath. Right. So he was actually doing this. “I’m doing exactly what you want.”

 

Hux sat up, looking far more awake than he had any right to, given how soundly he had been sleeping just moments ago. “This is revenge because I woke you up this morning.” He sighed. “Can you just go? This is becoming ridiculous.”

 

Kylo sat on the bed and was gratified to see Hux blink in surprise. “You’re right in a sense; this _is_ about this morning, General.” He paused for effect. “I’m sure that you’re aware that my force abilities make it very easy to pick up any _strong_ emotion.”

 

Hux stiffened slightly but was silent.

 

Kylo smirked beneath the mask. “I’m impressed that you kept it from me for this long; really, I had no idea just how much you want me.”

 

Hux had the dignity not to try to deny it. “What exactly do you want?”

 

“I want what you want, General.” He shifted forward; they were almost touching now. “A smooth working relationship.”

 

Hux’s face was completely placid but the air was humming with unconstrained excitement. Kylo put his hand on Hux’s chest and started to snake his hand down, pausing at the waistband of Hux’s regulation sleep-trousers. Hux nodded. He thrust his hand down and found Hux half-hard already. With the other hand, he went to remove his mask.

 

“No!” Hux said, sharply. “Keep it on.”

 

“As you wish.”

 

Before he could talk himself out of it, he grasped his hand tightly around Hux’s cock and started to jerk his fist roughly up and down the rapidly hardening length. It was already so slick and he could feel his grip slipping. He increased the pace - hand moving erratically – there was an uncomfortable tightness in his own pants now. Hux took a sharp intake of breath. He wondered if this was how Hux touched himself or whether he did it the way he did everything, slow and methodical. He closed his eyes and resisted the desperate urge to touch himself. He dug his free hand down hard into the side of Hux's neck and Hux came noiselessly and suddenly, lurching forward and juddering against Kylo’s chest.

 

 He rested his face against Kylo’s shoulder for the briefest of moments, then drew back, making a vain attempt to regain composure by smoothing the wrinkles from his t-shirt. He looked completely undone. His red hair was slightly mussed and his cheeks were stained in pink. There was a bead of blood on his lower lip – from biting it, Kylo realised. He was glad that Hux couldn’t see his own face.

 

They sat there for a while in complete silence. Then Kylo stood up and walked out without a word, robes billowing behind him.

 

Notes

I told myself I wouldn’t start another multi-chaptered fic because I’ve already got two other multi-chaptered fics that I barely update but this was getting way too long for a one-shot. I imagine this’ll only be 4 chapters max so hopefully this won’t be another fic that I end up taking months to write *shrugs*

 

This ship is ruining my life, I swear. I’m turning 23 tomorrow, I’ve got essays to work on, and this is what I’m spending my time on.

 

Anyways, any feedback would be much appreciated; I was kind unsure as to my characterisation here - I didn't want this to be a comedy fic but I think there is something about Kylo Ren that is just inherently kind of funny (hence all the emo Kylo Ren jokes floating around the internet) so it was hard to strike a balance. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “For someone with so much power, you really are rather stupid.” He ran his eyes over Kylo’s heavily robed body. “You can literally read minds and you still can’t see what I want.”

Warning: brief mention of suicidal ideation in this chapter (not from Hux or Kylo).

 

He wasn’t scheduled for any meetings with General Hux, in fact, his day was actually relatively free. He turned on the computer on his room and checked the schedule. Hux would be in meetings in the morning from 0900 to 1200. He made a plan to get breakfast and lunch to bring back to his room sometime between then to reduce the number of visits to the cafeteria. It wasn’t that he wasn’t avoiding Hux exactly; he just needed to keep his focus on his meditations and lightsaber practice.

 

As if summoned by his thoughts, his communicator buzzed with an incoming communication from Hux. Kylo stared at it for a moment without touching it, then put it down. He took out his lightsaber and ran through the familiar motions, swishing the blade dramatically through the air. Not his fault if he was busy and away from his communicator. He spun and swung down, furrowing his brow as he completed the movement. Ever since his injury, certain moves had felt off. He was fully healed, only scars remained to tell tales, but he was still off. It made no sense. 

 

He lunged forward. The communicator buzzed again. He gritted his teeth. This was fine. He was just going to ignore it. Unbidden, an image of Hux, all mussed hair and breathless, flashed though his mind. He drew the lightsaber up sharply above his head, spun it and brought it down hard. He repeated the sequence as the pleasant hum of the blade filled the air. This was better. A kind of detached rage flowed through him, guiding his motions, his mind empty of thoughts. He was the perfect conduit.

 

The communicator went off again. He chucked his lightsaber across the room, sparks flying as it hit against something. He stood there for a moment, his chest heaving. Regret having started, he walked over to scope out the damage. He pressed some buttons and damn, the control panel for the shower was broken. Again.

 

Defeated, he sloped out of the room to command someone to fix the panel. He could eat whilst he was waiting.

 

* * *

 

“The shower panel in my room is broken; I need it fixed as soon as possible,” he said, to the pace-faced repair technician.

 

“B-but, all our technicians are fully booked up with the Starkiller rebuild on General Hux’s orders,” the man stuttered.

 

“I seem to recall that when the control panel outside his room was broken that he managed to get it fixed right away,” he said as evenly as he could manage.

 

The man cowered, seeming to realise that he was one comment away from snapping. “I know but these are new orders and I-”

 

“Kylo Ren has not yet been briefed, I’m afraid,” Hux’s voice came smoothly from behind him. “I will take it from here; you go and check on your crew.”

 

The man scooped up some materials from his desk and scurried off as quickly as possible, extremely grateful for the excuse to flee.

 

Hux turned to Kylo. “Problems with your shower, Ren?” His eyebrow arched in a way that was incredibly irritating. “You can always use mine.”

 

“I thought you were supposed to be in a meeting,” he said, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

 

“ _We_ are supposed to be in a meeting, something that you would know if you answered your commlink,” he said, and Kylo didn’t even have to reach out with the Force to feel waves of smugness coming off of him. “It would waste a lot less time if I didn’t have to come looking for you.”

 

“How did you know I was here? Were you searching in every room?” If their positions were reversed Kylo could have just used the Force to find Hux – that was something _he_ could feel smug about.

 

Hux shot him a withering look and waved a device at him. “Tracker on your belt, remember?”

 

“Isn’t that misuse of First Order property?” he asked, hoping that Hux couldn’t hear the edge in his voice.

 

A hint of a smirk tugged at Hux’s mouth. “As opposed to, say, smashing up control panels with a lightsaber?”

 

He leaned in closer. Kylo willed himself not to step away.

 

“Come on, Ren, we’re needed in the conference room.”

 

* * *

  

The meeting passed agonisingly slowly. The upshot of it all was that Snoke, for reasons known only to him, had decided that work on the second Starkiller had to commence immediately. Kylo supposed that Snoke must have sensed something in the Force but he hadn’t felt anything himself. He repressed a sigh. He supposed that his powers still just weren’t there yet.

 

He found himself drumming his fingers on the table as Hux talked on and on at length about scheduling and security and all sorts of minor details.

 

 _‘I wish I could shut him up,’_ he thought and immediately wished he hadn’t, as images of a very quiet, very flushed Hux flitted through his brain. He shifted a little in his seat.

 

He looked down at his datapad, checking for communications from Snoke. None. He had hoped that perhaps his master would have wanted to explain his reasoning for moving up the schedule in person or, even better, that he had more training for him. He scrolled through his other messages, grateful for any reason not to look at General Hux. The messages were boring, most of them were just threads about technical details of this and that, and he wasn’t really expected to answer. He was only copied in as a courtesy.

He was reading an especially boring conversation about faulty calcinators when he had a sudden image of his own hands tapping on the counter, blurring to become his hand wrapped firmly around Hux’s –

 

He dropped his datapad on the table and his head snapped around to look at Hux, who was still droning on about the implications of their new plans on the stormtrooper training programme. His expression was glacial, so glacial that Kylo felt absolutely assured that he had done it on purpose, just because he was pissed that he didn’t have his full attention when he was prattling on.  Where had he learned to think so loud?

 

He made the appearance of listening for the rest of the meeting and then stormed out before Hux had a chance to catch him in the halls. Remembering the incident earlier, he snatched the device off his belt and stomped on it, kicking the broken thing down the hall. Ping! Seconds later, a new message came through the system.

 

New meeting: General Hux and Kylo Ren, General Hux’s Quarters, 2000 hours, to discuss the logistics of Kylo Ren getting his shower panel fixed.

 

Kylo gaped behind the mask. This was really _too_ much. He checked the message again. He was slightly relieved to see that it had been sent privately and not broadcast to the entire First Order but that did little to salve his irritation. Did Hux really think that he could schedule Kylo Ren and get a repeat performance, like it was just another one of his petty meetings that he seemed to love so much?

 

Well, he wasn’t going to come. He could find a technician and force them to fix the panel. True, there didn’t seem to be any around at the present minute but there were always options. If he couldn't get it fixed, he could just shower in the communal showers. Although the idea of a bunch of stormtroopers gawping at his bare face and worse, his body, didn’t exactly thrill him either.

 

The rage simmering beneath the surface abruptly stopped as he came to the sudden realisation about what he should do. If Hux wanted him in his quarters at 2000, Hux could have him in his quarters at 2000.

 

He was going to be sorry that he asked for this.

 

* * *

  

“You summoned me, General,” he said, with false politeness.

 

“Like you said, we’re supposed to be working on our professional relationship. You weren’t supposed to ignore communications from me or sit in meetings getting all flustered about things that happened last night,” Hux said, abruptly.

 

He turned his head sharply to look at Hux.

 

“And yes, I can read your moods through the mask,” Hux said, answering the unspoken question on Kylo’s mind.

 

This was incredibly unfair. Hux wasn’t even force sensitive – how was he doing this? He wasn’t sure which he hated more, Hux irritated or Hux smugly knowing. “Seeing as we are being professional, are we going to discuss the panel or not?”

 

“Like I said, we have other priorities. It’s come to my attention that your tracking device has also mysteriously broken – I don’t suppose you know anything about that?”

 

Kylo snapped. He thrust out his hand and force-pushed Hux against the bare wall, sliding him up by the throat. Hux spluttered, grasping at his collar. His face was turning red as he gasped for air. It would so easy to just give one squeeze and stop his life.

 

He let go. Hux slumped. “I tire of these games, General.”

 

Hux rubbed at his neck. “As do I. You are out of control, Ren. Someone ought to teach you some self-control.” He gave him a sly look that Kylo did not like at all. “You know, I’ve heard some things about your kind – Jedi, ex-Jedi, that is. It’s said that certain _activities_ are expressly forbidden. Is that true?”

 

“What are you getting at?”

 

Hux walked on over, back very straight. His hands slowly brushed over Kylo’s shoulders. Kylo sucked in a breath, a breath that was all too audible through the filtration system in his mask. Hux smirked and shoved him against the other wall, pressing his body up against him. “You’re master of the Knights of Ren; I couldn’t have done that unless you wanted me to.” He grasped at Kylo’s waist, pulling him in closer and Kylo could feel his traitorous body react. “I understand it must have been very _frustrating_ living by all those Jedi rules.”

 

He pushed Hux’s hands away and reached for his helmet.

 

“Didn’t we discuss this already? There’s no need for you take that off now.”

 

He paused. “Really, General? How else am I supposed to suck your cock? Isn’t that what you’ve been fantasising about for months?”

 

“You’re guessing,” Hux accused but he offered no further objection.

 

Kylo slid the helmet off and placed it carefully to the side. “Maybe but that thought running through your mind just confirmed it for me.” He shook his hair out. Hux very visibly reacted, despite his best efforts not to. “I think I’m starting to understand why you wanted me to keep the mask on.”

 

“I thought we had decided that there were better things you could be doing with your mouth,” Hux said, a little breathlessly.

 

Kylo pushed him up against the wall, reversing their positions again. He hesitated for a moment. He had never done this before but he was getting very clear suggestions straight from Hux’s mind (he tried not to think about how the General had gotten so experienced). He undid the top button of Hux’s trousers, slid down the zipper, decisively pulling down the fabric to reveal bare flesh.

 

“Are you waiting for an engraved invitation?” Hux sneered.

 

Everything in Hux’s mind was telling him to start off slow, just to lick the tip to begin with. _Fuck that._ He gripped Hux’s hips tightly and pulled Hux to him, wrapping his lips around Hux’s cock, the taste of the salt-slickness overwhelming. He tried and failed to suppress a gag as he took the length swiftly into his mouth. Hux’s amusement was palpable.

 

In a fit of retaliation, Kylo scraped his teeth lightly over Hux’s cock and was rewarded with a squirm of pain or pleasure (he wasn't sure which) from the General. Satisfied, he sheathed his teeth in his lips and swiped his tongue along the underside of Hux’s cock. Hux shuddered again, this time with pleasure. He repeated the motion. Hux grasped at Kylo’s hair, hands spasming wildly, his nails digging into Kylo’s skin. Kylo increased the pace, digging his own nails deeper into the soft flesh of Hux’s hips.

 

Hux gasped, gave a sudden jerk, and then was still.

 

Kylo disengaged from Hux, dropping his grip on his body, and stood up. Hux was leaning against the wall, breathing steadily, a slightly glazed look in his eye. Kylo ran his eyes over the General, taking in the sight. There was a slight redness where he had gripped him – he imagined that bruises would bloom there before too long. Absently, he wiped his mouth on the back of his hand.

 

“Don’t you dare spit on my floor,” Hux said, in an incredibly imperious tone for someone so thoroughly finished.

 

Kylo was half tempted to do it purely because Hux had told him not to. He resisted the urge and swallowed.

 

“Good boy,” Hux said. “But you still need a lot of training. Lucky for you, I’m here to oblige.”

 

“I’ll let you have the first shower, seeing as you’re such a mess,” Kylo retorted, feeling oddly calm.

 

“You could always join me?” Hux suggested.

 

Kylo grabbed his helmet and put it firmly back on his head.

 

Hux gave a small huff of a laugh, shrugged, and wandered off in the direction of the shower.

 

* * *

 

 

“Master, I received your call. Is this about the Starkiller base? The entire schedule has been moved forward.”

 

The hologram of Snoke waved his hand. “That is irrelevant: I have called you back to continue your training. You did well last time but there are elements you still need to finesse.”

 

He tried not to show his surprise. “Master?”

 

“You have proved yourself capable of breaking even the strongest mind but a broken mind is of little use. You must restrain yourself. Delve for the information that will allow you to bend their will, to shape them into your creatures.”

 

“Master, what must I do?”

 

“Take our friend, the prisoner. He has lost the will to live – can you feel it? There’s nothing you can do with him like this.”

 

“I feel it,” he said, cursing himself for his lack of control. “Is it too late to change that?”

 

Snoke shook his head. “It’s never too late, apprentice. You simply need to offer him something: hope or revenge perhaps. I shall leave it to you.”

 

Kylo Ren bowed his head and went to fetch the prisoner, his mind racing with the possibilities.

 

* * *

 

Everything he tried with the prisoner failed. He tried revenge first because wasn’t revenge just so easy? Kylo had taken a thousand pieces of petty revenge in his career, he’d scattered the bodies of his enemies over blood soaked planets and sterile plastisteel floors, and he’d felt pure in each moment of rage. But the prisoner shook his head, no. The man was too weak to take what was offered, Kylo realised. He reeked of guilt. The man did not want to kill; he wanted to die.

 

Frustration welled inside him but he would not display it in front of the Supreme Leader. He would simply try something else. 

 

“You must offer him something to live for,” Snoke prompted and oh, how he had tried.

 

He had killed this man’s family and friends in a vision; it should have been easy enough to resurrect them, to reveal it all for the illusion it was. He showed them smiling, happy; arms stretched wide open to welcome him home.

 

The prisoner just sobbed. “Stop,” he rasped. “Take these phantoms away, please, just take this all away.”

 

He did not stop. He persisted for hours and hours until he was tired and exhausted and still no closer to discovering the secret. He looked to his master for the answer but Snoke just shook his head.

 

“Return tomorrow and try again.” His tone was mild but it was laced with disappointment.

* * *

 

 

He visited General Hux’s room that night and every successive night that he failed. 

 

* * *

 

 

“Why do you always run out of here before I even have the chance to offer to get you off?” Hux asked, pouring himself a glass of wine.

 

“I’m not interested in that,” he said, as flatly as possible, though he felt a traitorous twitch in his crotch just at the sound of those words.

 

“I don’t think that’s it,” Hux mused. He traced his gloved finger slowly around the rim of the glass. “I think you’re afraid.”

 

“I’m not afraid! Besides, what do you care? You’re getting what you want, either way.” Kylo thrust his arms out and his own empty glass went flying off the table along with the rest of the bottle, shattering into pieces, burgundy liquid spilling all over the floor. The use of the force had been entirely unintended but there was no way he could admit to that; the General was probably just going to make him clean it up either way.

 

Hux surveyed the mess on his floor with pursed lips but, to Kylo’s surprise, declined to comment on it further. “For someone with so much power, you really are rather stupid.” He ran his eyes over Kylo’s heavily robed body. “You can literally read minds and you still can’t see what I want.”

 

He could feel Hux projecting but he turned his mind away. He didn’t want to rifle through the General’s thoughts, thoughts that could be so misleading. He just wanted to be told. “And what do you want?”

 

Hux gave an oddly gentle sigh. “I want you, _all_ of you.”

 

Kylo just stood there, weirdly undone by that sigh.

 

Hux shook his head decisively, his features setting back into a mask of pure control. “I’ll see you the same time tomorrow, Ren.”

 

Kylo was halfway out the door when he stopped. Something rose up in his chest, something so powerful he felt like he was choking. It wasn’t coming from Hux. It _couldn’t_ be, he’d shielded himself from the General’s thoughts. He turned back. He pulled off his helmet and dropped it on the floor. He ran over before he could talk himself out of it and grasped Hux’s face in his hands. Hux angled his face up and kissed him, catching his lip with his teeth. He could taste his blood as his tongue brushed Hux's but he didn't care. Hux grasped at his body, frantically running his hands all over.

 

He pulled away. “Force, Ren. How the fuck do you get this thing off?”

 

Hux’s pale green eyes were blazing in a way that Kylo had never seen before. Kylo took a step back, hesitated for the briefest of moments, before reminding himself that Hux had seen him barely clothed before and hadn’t seemed too unappreciative. His fingers found the hidden seam in his robes. He unhooked them as swiftly as he could, the heavy robes falling to the floor with a soft thud.

 

Something like a smile tugged at the side of Hux’s mouth and then they were kissing again. Hux steered him towards the bed and he didn’t resist. He fell for a briefest of seconds, landing comfortably on a surprisingly soft mattress. Hux climbed up on top of him and just looked at him like he was surveying their latest weapon. His head was cocked to the side, a slightly glazed look in his eyes. 

 

“Just move,” Kylo whined. He hadn’t meant to say it but the words were out of his mouth before he could stop himself.

 

Hux smirked and pulled his gloves off, gently placing them to the side. “Let’s see now.” He ran his index finger down the scar on Kylo’s face, stopping for a moment to touch the full length of the nose, before following the path through to completion. He pulled his thumb along Kylo’s jawline and paused to touch every mole. His face had always been something for people to slide their eyes over or to stare at in disbelief that this was who was hiding behind the mask. It had never been a face to be savoured.

 

Hux kissed his lips again, bringing his hand down to push down on Kylo’s neck. Kylo gasped and felt his chest rise up to meet Hux’s body. Dark spots danced before his eyes. He was hype-aware of every molecule of his body, of every place that he and Hux were touching. If this was what choking felt like, he was surprised that his subordinates weren’t fucking up way more.

 

 Hux let go and moved down to nip at his neck, sucking at the delicate skin with his teeth. “The one good thing about that getup of yours is that I can mark you however I want and no-one will ever have to know,” he said.

 

Kylo squirmed desperately wishing that Hux’d just hurry up. He snaked a hand to his now hard and aching groin; Hux smacked it away.

 

“Wait,” he commanded.

 

Kylo waited.

 

Hux took his time, pulling his mouth agonisingly slowly over what seemed like every inch of skin on his neck, leaving a trail of moisture on his skin. He felt the flick of tongue over his moles and the thought flashed through his mind that maybe Hux had some kind of fetish for them. Hux dragged his hand over Kylo’s chest and down to Kylo’s boxers and all thoughts in Kylo’s head abruptly stopped. Hux tugged them down and Kylo finished the job, throwing them in the direction of his robes. Hux gave a startled little bark of laughter and started to stroke Kylo’s cock in a manner that was deceptively leisurely. 

 

He felt his mind unclench and Hux’s thoughts came flooding through in great rush. He could see it now, laid out in front of him, breathtaking in its sheer scale. Hux wanted _everything._ Hux wanted every planet, in every system, in the entire galaxy. He wanted an Empire of his own. He wanted a throne to sit upon. And he wanted Kylo Ren.

 

Hux _really_ did want all of Kylo Ren because he wanted all of everything.

 

Hux clenched his fist a little tighter but kept steady pace, never taking his eyes of Kylo’s face. Kylo gasped. Hux had always been so quiet for him but he couldn’t help himself. Hux brought his other hand to rest down on his neck again. Kylo heard himself moan.

 

“Force, Ren,” Hux muttered to himself.

 

Kylo saw stars, then everything went white…

 

"You're cleaning that up by the way," Hux said after several minutes of near-silence. 

 

It took Kylo an embarrassingly long time to realise that he meant the smashed glass and split wine.

 

Notes

I had a plan for what was going to be in chapter 2 and this was about half of it…fuck. I think this fic is going to end up longer than I planned. Also, I think this is probably the most smutty thing I’ve ever written so that’s something as well...

 

Thanks to everyone who left comments and kudos on the previous chapter; it really is much appreciated! As ever, I’d love to hear any comments you have about the fic. In the past a lot of my fics have been very tell rather than show, so I’m trying to show character motivations without spelling them out but I’m not sure how it’s working, so I’d love to get some feedback on that.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kylo and Hux get trapped in Hux's room and the secrecy of their relationship is threatened.

Slowly but surely he was making progress with the prisoner. He’d decided to hone his focus and concentrate on showing the prisoner just one friend come to rescue him. Kylo had met this man before; it made it easier to summon the image, to make it whole. The saviour was coming to the prisoner worse for the wear, bloodied and bruised, but filled with righteous determination that he was going to save his friend.

 

The vision offered him a hand. The prisoner did not take it but Kylo could feel his confusion, his dim hope that perhaps this really was real. But the Prisoner hesitated too long.

 

He had his vision drop his hand to his side. “I’ll be back,” the vision promised. “I’ll get you a gun. We’ll be out of here in no time.”

 

* * *

 

“I’ll see you same time tomorrow,” Hux said.

 

 He said these words often and Kylo wasn’t sure whether it was a feature of his love of predictability or he was trying to make some point about having power over Kylo. Either way, it wasn’t worth bringing up: he _would_ be back there same time tomorrow.

 

He pressed at the door panel and prepared to make an exit. The panel made a low droning sound; the doors failed to open. He pressed it again. The door made an even worse noise. He exchanged looks with Hux. “This wasn’t my fault,” he said, holding his hands up defensively. “I haven’t touched it.”

 

“For once that’s true.” Hux walked over and pressed the panel, as if he hadn’t just seen Kylo doing the exact same thing. Unsurprisingly, he got the exact same lack of results. He fiddled with a couple of wires and tried again. Nothing.

 

“It’s broken.” Hux’s tones were clipped in irritation. “Does nothing on this ship work?”

 

He reached for his commlink.

 

“What are you doing?” Kylo asked.

 

“Calling for someone to fix this situation,” Hux said, slowly, as if he were stupid.

 

“Right and how exactly will you explain my presence?” he shot back.

 

Hux gave an exasperated huff. “We are the heads of command on this ship. We don’t need to tell them anything – we were simply having a highly classified meeting.”

 

“At 0300?”

 

“Clearly the Supreme Leader had called us about some urgent business.”

 

Kylo gave him a sceptical look that he knew Hux would pick up even through the helmet.

 

“Look, Ren, don’t get paranoid. Everyone on this ship knows we hate each other.”

 

“Fine. Call them then if you’re so sure.”

 

Hux pulled out the commlink and put on his officious voice. “This is General Hux. The panel to let me out of my room is currently broken and I need it fixed immediately.”

 

A sleepy sounding technician responded. “General? We are having a few shortages in personnel and you’re not due-”

 

“Let me stop you there,” Hux said, his voice pure ice. “I have been up all night in a private meeting with Kylo Ren and now we have urgent business to attend to. I am sure that you do not want to keep either of us waiting.”

 

“Of course, I apologise, I’ll send someone right away.”

 

Hux looked triumphantly towards Kylo.

 

“Do you often use my name to frighten the technicians?”

 

“Only when I have to. The smart ones know that I’m not to be taken lightly.”

 

Kylo couldn’t exactly disagree with that.

 

The conversation lapsed into a lull. Hux checked his datapad and tapped away at an incredibly rapid pace. Kylo was more than ready to slump onto his bed and forget about work for at least six hours but Hux looked bright-eyed and fully alert.

 

“It’s difficult to work with you staring at me,” Hux said, not looking up from his datapad.

 

“What else am I supposed to do?”

 

“You’re tired. Just go to bed.”

 

He lowered his voice. “Really, again, General? So eager.”

 

“You _know_ I don’t mean that. Go get some sleep and let me get on with my tasks. The idiots that work here will probably take at least half an hour to get their act together.”

 

Kylo muttered something under his breath about being too sensitive if he couldn’t even work when someone was watching him but he didn’t put up too much of a fight. The idea of sinking his head into a pillow was too enticing. He trudged over and stopped. He had never actually been in Hux’s bed before. Sure, he’d been _on_ the bed but he’d never gotten under the covers and he'd certainly never slept there. He pulled back the corner of the cover and got in. He shifted around for a few moments, feeling the mattress yield pleasantly under his body. Then he closed his eyes and fell asleep almost instantly.

* * *

 

 

A low dull sound drew Kylo slowly out of his dreamless sleep. It took him a moment to place his surroundings. The sheets were much softer than he typically preferred. Sheets like…Oh. It all came rushing back. The locked door, Hux offering him the bed. He glanced over at the clock - it was 0620!

 

He crawled out of bed to find Hux sitting in exactly the same position he had last seen him in. He looked up from his datapad, a sudden smile twitching at the corner of his mouth. Hux was staring at him with something like amusement and something like...well, he couldn't quite put his finger on it. 

 

He rubbed his eyes. "What?" 

 

"Take a look in the mirror," Hux prompted.

 

The problem was immediately obvious: he had a major case of bedhead. He clawed at a tangle of hair that was sticking out on one side, desperately trying to restore some semblance of order.

 

"That would go a lot quicker if you just used a comb."

 

"I don't carry a comb around with me, Hux." His voice was dripping with sarcasm.

 

"Second dresser draw." Hux instructed. 

 

He looked and fished out an elaborately carved black comb.

 

"Not that one!" Hux instructed. "You can use the brown one."

 

Kylo scanned the draw and found the plain brown comb in question. He held it up for inspection.

 

"Yes, you can use that one."

 

"So fussy about your combs, do you save that one for special occasions or something?" Kylo mocked. He, nevertheless, did start combing out the tangles in his hair using the brown comb.

 

"I just don't want your grease all over my comb. I actually have to use that."

 

"Grease? I'm not the one who uses so much gel it's like he fell into the trash compactor with the dianoga." The comb resisted as he tried to pull it through the knots. He pulled down harder, trying not to wince as the hair pulled on his scalp. 

 

"It's called maintaining an professional appearance." Hux flashed up the the official First Order handbook on the datapad. "See, my hair is cut and styled according to regulations, something you clearly either know nothing about or have chosen to ignore."

 

"You know, I think you've inspired me, General. I'm just going to shave it all off," he threatened, darkly. He inspected himself in the mirror. His hair was now restored to his rightful state, falling in slight waves around his face. He could see Hux in the reflection of the mirror and he was watching him closely, despite the datapad he held out in front of him. 

 

Hux looked down at the datapad, suddenly the picture of indifference. "Fine, you do that." 

 

Kylo turned around and raised a skeptical eyebrow, a trick he had learned from studying Hux's facial expressions. "Don't try to fool me - I can see into your mind - I'm well aware of the obsession you have with my hair."

 

Hux crossed his arms in front of his chest. "I do believe that that's a misuse of power."

 

“And you let me sleep in your bed. My hair ‘grease’ is all over your pillows now,” he pointed out gleefully. The noise from outside whirred faster and louder. "What's that sound anyway? And why did you let me sleep so long?" 

 

"They're drilling. The entire door mechanism is broken and it's taking forever for them to fix it. There was really no point waking you up, they've been at it for hours."

 

Kylo groaned. "Do they know when it'll be finished?"

 

"It could be some time," Hux said, his voice tight. "Apparently everyone on this ship but me is completely incompetent." 

 

Kylo glared and pulled out his lightsaber, not activating it. "I suggest you rephrase that."

 

"No, you're right. Phasma is at least half-competent." Then Hux stopped, his voice rising suddenly in reaslisation. “Couldn’t you just use your lightsaber or the force to open the doors?”

 

Kylo felt abruptly stupid. “It wouldn’t do anything to fix the panel – if I try it now, it’ll ruin the work they’ve already done.”

 

Hux gave him a pointed look. “It’s not like you to care about the control panel. It sounds like you’re looking for an excuse not to leave.”

 

“Right, because I love been trapped in a room with you just _talking_.” He sat down on the bed.

 

Hux rolled his eyes. “It must be exhausting to have such a one track mind. You know, it’s at times like these that I’m really glad that I can’t read your thoughts.”

 

“You forget that I actually can read your mind and I don’t think it’s me that spends all his time in idle fantasies…”

 

A sudden smile came to Hux’s face, never a good sign. “You’re right, Ren. My mind is utterly consumed with sordid fantasies of fucking you every way on every surface of this ship.” And as if to demonstrate, Kylo was suddenly hit with an overwhelming flood of images. Hux had him bent over a console on the bridge of the ship and he could see thousands stars out of the window. He had Hux’s gloved fingers in his mouth and was sucking them slowly. Hux was skimming Kylo’s lightsaber gently over his torso, leaving a trail of scorched pink skin. He was cuffed to the bed, covered in welts, and begging for more. Hux was pulling his hair and-

 

His body reacted to the onslaught with uncomfortable arousal. “Enough!” he exclaimed. He had known the General was creative but he’d underestimated just how many scenarios he taken the time to dream up. How long would it have gone on for if he hadn’t cut him off? 

 

“You’re so easily worked up,” Hux smirked. “I bet you wish I would come over there right now…”

 

“Ten minutes, that’s all we need. Come on, they won’t be able to fix it in that time,” he blurted. 

 

Hux shook his head. “In case you didn’t notice, a bunch of our subordinates hanging around outside the door, listening in, isn’t actually one of my fantasies.”

 

“I can be quiet,” Kylo offered and he can feel Hux consider the option for the briefest of seconds. Yet more images were flashing through the General’s mind but these were memories, not fantasies. Memories in which he was being embarrassingly loud.

 

“For once in your life, you’re going to have to be patient,” Hux concluded.

 

“I hate you,” Kylo muttered. “How did you even learn to project like that?”

 

“I knew I was dealing with force users, so I did my research. I wasn’t going to let a weapon like you onto my ship without building up some defences.”

 

_‘A weapon,’_ thought Kylo. _‘Is that what I am?’_

“Some of the folklore is quite easy to find – everyone in the galaxy seems to know about your Sith Rule of Two. Murder has always been a quick path to power but I’ve never known it to be a _requirement_ for promotion.” Hux sounded impressed rather than repulsed.

“I’m not a Sith,” Kylo corrected, pleased that finally Hux had gotten something wrong.

 

Hux frowned. “What are you then? You’re not still a Jedi, surely?” He had a hungry look in his eye, a look that had usually been reserved from when they had been participating in _other_ activities.

 

Kylo’s mouth twisted into a smirk. “I seem to remember that you denied me my satisfaction so I don’t see why I should be expected to answer all your questions.”

 

“You’re so petty.”

 

“I know.”

 

Hux didn’t seem to have anything to add to that so they just sat there and looked at each other. Kylo glanced at the clock. Time seemed to be going agonisingly slowly – he vowed that when he got out of there whichever idiot had wired up the panel was going to pay. Hux checked his datapad and then hastily put it down again. He’d finished all the work available, apparently.

 

“So,” Kylo said, just to break the silence.

 

“What?” Hux sounded exasperated before he'd even had a chance to ask the question. 

 

“What’s your first name? I don’t think I’ve ever heard you say it,” he asked. This had been bothering him for a while and now seemed like the perfect time to ask. It wasn’t like Hux could go anywhere.

 

“If you’re so interested, you could always just look through the personnel records,” Hux pointed out. “Or you could invade my thoughts without permission like you usually do.”

 

“Asking is much less effort but I’ll get it one way or another, even if it means wasting precious First Order time and resources.”

 

“Fine, I’ll save us the trouble." He rolled his eyes. "It’s William but if you _ever_ call me that, I’ll start calling you _Ben._ ”

 

It was like the breath had been knocked out of him. “How do you know about that?”

 

“I told you, I do my research.” Hux looked at him. “I’ve known since the second week I met you and that’s only because it took two weeks of extremely thorough searching to find out.”

 

Kylo crossed his arms in front of his chest and looked away. He had the sudden urge to fling himself out of the window into the vacuum of space. It seemed like that was the only way he was ever going to rid himself of Ben. Every time he thought he was free, his old life resurfaced like a persistent parasitic infection. No-one aboard this ship was supposed to know. Snoke had promised…

 

“I don’t care,” Hux said.

 

Kylo snapped his head back to look at him.

 

“I don’t care about Ben Solo. It’s Kylo Ren that spends all his time fucking up my ship, my meticulously crafted plans, and my opportunities for career advancement. So it’s Kylo Ren I have to worry about. Ben is irrelevant.”

 

Kylo snorted. Strangely enough, the General’s little tirade had actually made him feel better. Still, he’d rather they got off the subject. “You could change _your_ name, if you don’t like it.”

 

“I have a title and a last name. That’s all I need.” He suddenly pulled a face like he was eating something sour. “Ren, I understand but how did you come up with _Kylo_ anyway?”

 

Kylo paused before answering. He had never told anyone this story. No-one but his parents had ever asked. He hadn’t told them, he was just too sick of trying to explain, and Luke had always told him not to worry them. Not that it mattered any more. 

 

“Is it embarrassing?” Hux prompted in the silence. “Did you name yourself after some pathetic holovid celebrity or something?”

 

“I didn’t name myself,” he snapped, jumping to his feet. “Snoke named me. It’s a mark of respect.”

 

He kicked over Hux’s bin. Rubbish flew out onto the floor. He cast his eyes over it, breathing heavily, and waited for Hux’s reaction.

 

“I should have known.” Hux didn’t sound angry.

 

Kylo lifted the bin with the force and brought the rubbish back in, as though it had never happened. Hux didn’t seem to notice.

 

“Kylo, how long have you known Snoke for?” he asked, sharply.

 

He frowned. “Why does that matter?”

 

“Answer the question.” Hux’s manner was serious but Kylo couldn’t feel anything from him that would explain why. His emotions were muted and deliberately so, Kylo suspected.

 

“Since I was very young. I don’t remember exactly when.”

 

Hux’s expression was very odd. “That’s what I thought.”

 

“I don’t understand what you are thinking,” Kylo said, hoping Hux would explain further. He could force the answers out him if turned the full power of his mindreading ability on him but he didn’t exactly want to do that.

 

“Idle curiosity.” Hux had injected an artificially blasé air into his voice. The drill outside continued to whir. “When will they finished the work on this damn panel?”

 

Kylo paced restlessly. It felt like he had been trapped in there for forever, it was almost as if he had forgotten that there was ever a chance of getting out. It reminded him of when he was a youngling and he'd been confined to camp for day after day of silent meditation. Impulsively, he drew out his lightsaber and activated it.

 

“I tolerated your temper-tantrum against the bin but if you think you can use that thing on anything in this room, you’ve got another thing coming.”

 

He lifted the saber high above his head and brought it down slowly in a controlled movement. He smirked. “Relax. You had your work to do; now I have mine.”

 

He started to run through the typical motions, feeling his frustration to dissipate almost instantly. He spun his body and brought his lightsaber around to follow him. Still, there wasn’t quite the complete and perfect dissolution of self he had become used to. The fact that Hux had yet to tear his eyes away was nagging at the back of his mind, making him more conscious of himself than he would have been. Of course, there was no way he could admit that to the other man.He started to move through the patterns more rapidly than usual. The lightsaber was a blur of red darting through the air, the individual movements getting lost in the flurried chain of practice violence.

 

The doors popped open.

 

“Lord Ren-” a technician stuttered, clearly nervous enough to be the one to release a caged Kylo Ren, let alone Kylo Ren in action with his lightsaber already out. “And G-general Hux. I apologise for the delay but as you can see, it is all fixed now. So, that’s good?”

 

Kylo stopped practicing but did not recall the lightsaber. He put his helmet back on with his free hand. 

 

“What exactly was taking so long?” Hux said, sounding not especially forgiving.

 

“I’m sorry, sir. The entire connection to the system was severed. The technician who worked with your panel after- erm, that incident a few weeks back, made a complete mess of the repair.”

 

“I see,” Hux said, pointedly not looking at Kylo. “And who was that technician?”

 

“I was on sleep break,” the man blurted. “I mean, so I have no idea who it was. You’d have to check the rota.”

 

“I will be sure to do that.” Hux gave the technician an icy look. “You’re dismissed.”

 

Kylo gave Hux a brief look and decided to leave himself, blowing past the technician, force tripping him on the way out.

 

* * *

 

 

“I’m back,” the vision told the prisoner. “But we need to go soon. This place is about to blow.”

 

The prisoner hesitated.

 

“ _Please,”_ the vision begged. “I won’t leave without you, I can’t…”

 

The prisoner nodded, looking stronger than he had in months. “Okay, let’s go.”

 

“Feed him a vision of them entering a ship and lead him back to his cell,” Snoke commanded, speaking directly to his mind.

 

Kylo did as he was told and returned.

 

“You have done very well, apprentice. Your control of the dark side has only continued to grow.”

 

“It is all thanks to your teachings, master.”

 

“I will be sending you to an ancient Sith tomb, it is strong in the dark side, and hidden within it are ancient holocrons. You will learn much from this apprentice; soon your mastery of dark force powers will be unrivalled.”

 

“I am honoured to undertake this journey master,” he bowed his head.

 

“I just need for you to do one thing before you leave,” Snoke said.

 

* * *

 

 

“Snoke is not happy with the rate of progress – we need to stop sitting around talking and just speed up production on the Starkiller II!” Kylo Ren had been sitting in this meeting for what felt like forever and they’d still gotten no further. Everytime it looked like they were done, someone brought up some new petty detail. He had called this meeting to deliver Snoke’s instructions but they were all acting like this was some kind of debate. The fact was that if Snoke was insisting that they needed this weapon immediately, then they needed it immediately but no-one here seemed to understand that.

 

Hux gritted his teeth. “As I have already explained to you, Ren, we have to take extra precautions to ensure that this weapon, a weapon that has been rebuilt at a not inconsiderable expense, does not get destroyed by another pathetic rebel attack.”

 

Kylo clenched his fist uselessly at his side. “The Supreme Leader says that the Starkiller should be ready within the fortnight; therefore it should be ready in a fortnight. If you cannot stick to his schedule, General, then he will find someone who can.”

 

“Well why don’t you just explain it to him, Kylo? Aren’t you his indispensible apprentice?” he snapped.

 

“The Supreme Leader knows best,” Kylo snapped back. “Or do you want to end up dead for questioning orders?”

 

Hux sucked in an angry breath. “All I am doing is stating the obvious.”

 

“Orders have been received,” Phasma said, her voice cutting forcefully through the argument. “We will of course carry them out.”

 

Hux shot her a poisonous look. There was an uncomfortable moment of silence.

 

“We will double our efforts,” Hux conceded, finally. He looked around the room at the team heads who sat there. “I expect all of you to streamline your operations and get your team working at maximum efficiency. Hire temporary workers if you have to. Dismissed.”

 

They all started to filter out of the room.

 

“General Hux, a word?” said Phasma.

 

Hux did not acknowledge the request but he didn’t leave either. Clearly the discussion was meant to be private, which only raised Kylo’s suspicions. Surely, _he_ should be privy to the conversation as well. It was clear they weren’t going to ask him to stay so Kylo made an exit and then waited outside the door. Then he focused on the conversation inside the room, using the force to enhance his hearing.

 

“I wouldn’t have expected this from you. Him, I understand, but you?” Phasma said, almost as soon as he was out of the door.

 

“Ren doesn’t outrank me. There’s no reason why I should take his orders, especially when it’s clear that what’s being asked is impossible,” Hux said. “And whilst we are at it, I do not appreciate you undermining me. If you value your career, I suggest that you do not try that ever again.”

 

“I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about whatever it is that’s going on between you and Ren.”  

 

“As I have _just_ explained, there is no point having two people of equal rank if you do not expect them to disagree at points. Now if you don’t mind, there’s a lot of work to be done.” There was the sound of footsteps.

 

“Since when do you call Ren ‘Kylo’?” she said.

 

Kylo heard Hux stop.

 

“I’ve had my suspicions since the two of you got locked in together. I mean, a late night ‘meeting.’ Did you really expect anyone to believe that?” Phasma said, flatly. “Look, I’m not going to say anything now but the moment this gets in the way of work, I go straight to Snoke.”

 

“What makes you think that he doesn’t know?” It was a good bluff and Kylo was convinced for a second that it would work.

 

“You know better than to try to take me for a fool.”

 

“And you know better than to think that I respond well to threats.” Kylo could hear the tightness in Hux’s voice. He was close to snapping completely.

 

“It’s not a threat, General. I’m sure you are aware that I have always been a great admirer of your work. I just want to make sure you’re not getting distracted; Ren is indispensible to Snoke. You and I aren’t. The minute something goes wrong, it’ll be us who pays the price, not him.”

 

“Thank you for your concern,” said Hux, not sounding entirely mollified. “I assure you that there will not be any issues.”

 

“Hey, I’m just worried about my own head,” said Phasma.

 

“In that case, I suggest you keep quiet.”

 

Phasma laughed. “Don’t be so serious. I think we understand each other perfectly. Now let’s get on with that work that Ren has dumped on our doorstep.”

 

There was the sudden sound of footsteps; they were coming out the door! He realised that standing outside the door would do nothing for their case. Alarm racing through him, he started to power walk down the hall. The doors opened and he knew they could see him. He slowed down like he had just been having a casual stroll.

 

They weren’t buying it.

 

“This is exactly what I mean,” Phasma sighed.

 

“I’ll speak to him,” Hux said, tightly.

 

“Rather you than me.”

 

* * *

 

 

“I assume you heard all that with Phasma earlier,” Hux stated, as Kylo entered his quarters.

 

“Yes.”

 

“In that case, I think you should know why you shouldn’t be here right now.”

 

“Now who’s paranoid? It’s only Phasma. You really think that the Supreme Leader will take her word over mine or yours?”

 

“And if he uses the force?” Hux said. “What’s to stop him extracting the information.”

 

“I don’t even know that he would care.” It was true; he had no idea what the Supreme Leader would think. It was a general rule that colleagues in the order shouldn’t get involved but none of the other rules had ever applied to him, so there was no reason to think that this would either. Being with Hux had only helped him focus his powers. He imagined that that at least would be worth something to the Supreme Leader. 

 

Hux gave him a look of pure exasperation. “You’re a fool if you think he’d allow this!”

 

Kylo threw up his hands. “Phasma won’t tell. I won’t tell. You won’t tell. You’ll get the Starkiller II finished whilst I’m away and Snoke will be grateful for our service.”

 

“Whilst you’re away?” Hux said, immediately.

 

“That’s what I came to tell you. Last night, Snoke told me that he’d be sending me to an ancient Sith temple. There’s important training waiting for me.”

 

“So he sends you away and all of a sudden he needs the Starkiller II completed ahead of schedule…” Hux was clearly thinking aloud. “Kylo, what’s the great plan? What is all this _for_?”

 

“Only the Supreme Leader knows that.” He could feel a great anxiety flowing from Hux in waves, his mind turning ferociously in so many directions.

 

“Can’t you just think for yourself for once?” Hux exclaimed, having found no answers. “Why is he sending you _now_? How do you know this isn’t some kind of trap?”

 

“He’s sending me because I’ve made progress with my training.” He spoke calmly – it felt like an odd reversal of their usual dynamic.

 

“Right. Progress. Didn’t Sith lords _kill_ their apprentices when they got too powerful?”

 

“I’ve told you before, we’re _not_ Sith.” He paused as Hux’s words sunk it. “Are you saying that you’d actually care if it were a trap?”

 

“I didn’t say that.” Hux sounded tired and defeated.

 

“I just came to say goodbye. A proper goodbye.” He took Hux’s gloved hand. “And I seem to remember a certain fantasy of yours involving these.”

 

Hux sighed. “Well, I suppose you’re already here…”

 

Notes

Credit to all the people making glove-art/fic for inspiring me to include that in this chapter!

If you’re enjoying it, please leave a comment to let me know. Comments really do make my day!

 

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alone in the cave, Kylo thinks about his goodbye to Hux and faces trials he hadn't expected.

Kylo stood before the cave. He could almost hear his name howling in the wind. His cape rippled restlessly. Dark energy was emanating from the place like nothing he had ever felt before. He wanted to go back to the ship. He heard the rasp of his own breath through the mask and held the picture of Darth Vader's own mask in his head. It was far away but he could picture it so clearly it was as if he could feel it in his hands. Just the thought of it gave him strength. He bowed his head and marched through the entrance.

 

The air inside the cave was cool enough that he could feel it, even through his robes, like sheen of ice over his skin. The floor sloped downwards and he could feel himself go deeper and deeper. He could have sworn he had only taken a few steps but when he turned, he couldn’t see the light of the entrance. He supposed that was to be expected. This was a place a great power; there was much lore about those who wandered blindly into Ancient Sith tombs and never came out. Some returned but they did not return the same. He was aiming to be in he latter category. He turned back and kept walking down, down, down. 

 

The darkness surrounded him, overwhelmed him. It was pitch black now but the force was there to guide him, to ensure he didn’t stumble. The floor was uneven, riddled with stalagmites. The sound of the wind had dimmed to a wail but it felt stronger than ever, wrapping itself around his limbs, drawing him in further to the heart of the earth. He wanted this, wanted this all to fill him up until he could breathe this power like it was mere air, until he was perfect and complete in his mastery of it. He could feel it sink through his skin and it itched under the surface.

 

There were no thoughts in his head as he walked. He just had to keep moving. There was no sense of time. He had brought electronics with him but none of them seemed to be working. He stopped every now and again to eat though his stomach was touched by no hunger. He marched and marched through the cave and felt exhausted but incapable sleep. There was no-where suitable to rest regardless, the cavern was all jagged edges.

 

After some indeterminable length of time, he reached a large open cavern and he saw it. The tomb. It was lit with a strange grey light and cast long shadows all over the cavern floor. Water dripped from the ceiling around it but did not touch it. It was a face, all sharp planes, carved out of some kind of blood red stone. It was the stuff of awe and for all that it’s eyes were blank, it seemed to see right through him, to fix him to the spot. He did not recognise the face. It was before his time. So many records had been lost after the accursed Jedi had attempted to wipe any acknowledgement of the dark side from the galaxy. Still, there was something familiar looking about it. Something that called to him. 

 

Kylo surveyed the thing, trying to think about this logically. Snoke had told him there was knowledge inside the tomb; therefore there must be an entrance somewhere. But he couldn’t see it. He reached out with the force, pulling and pushing, staining so hard he could feel blood rush to his face. The tomb did not move. He breathed in and out in short sharp breaths. He put up both hands and pulled. He stumbled back and barely caught himself from tripping. A great exhale of breath left his body and he slumped on the ground, ignoring the unpleasant damp that was spreading through the fabric of his robes. He needed to _think_. He closed his eyes and started his meditation.

 

He wasn’t sure how much time had passed when he opened his eyes again. He had regained his strength but had gained no insights from the meditation. The face seemed to watch him in a sneer. Fueled by pure rage and impulse, he sprinted forward and started to climb. As it turned out, the tomb was not made for climbing; it was all too smooth, all too slippery. He fell again onto his back. He sprung up and tried it again, desperately digging his nails into flawless stone. He fell again. He used the force to propel his body up, flinging himself at the nose of the face. He clung on for a good few minutes before sliding down and falling with a great smack to the ground.

 

He didn’t bother to get up and just lay there for a while, not in meditation but in self-pity and defeat.  His thoughts wandered, desperately seeking anything to take him out of there even for a bit. He had so few pleasant memories, so few that wouldn’t send him plummeting back into the temptation in the light, so few he found himself clinging to thoughts of Hux. Pathetic as it may have been to think about someone he supposedly didn’t even like, he had no-one else. The memory of the night he had left burned clearly in his mind, warming him as the dampness of the cave floor soaked through his robes.

 

_He put the tips of Hux’s fingers in his mouth, rolling his tongue so slowly over each individual finger. The material was surprisingly soft, worn down by so many months of wear. He closed his mouth over Hux’s ring finger and sucked gently._

_“This isn’t how you usually do things,” Hux said. His voice sounded strained. “Could it be that you’re actually learning patience.”_

_Kylo looked up at him deviously and continued to lap his tongue over the leather._

 

_Hux failed to suppress a moan, his body shuddering uncontrollably._

_Kylo pulled back to look at Hux, surveying his work with pleasure. “Bet you’re regretting teaching me that lesson.” He leaned over and kissed Hux before the man had a chance to answer, giving his bottom lip a little nip._

_“What has gotten into you?” Hux asked once Kylo released his lip. He sounded both perplexed and amused._

_“I told you, I’m saying goodbye.” He brushed his lips clumsily over the small bare strip of wrist between Hux’s gloves and shirt. He could feel Hux’s pulse hammer against the skin of his lips. He looked up. “And I’ve been in your mind, I know it’ll be so hard for you to get through the days without me to fulfil all your sordid little fantasies, so I might as well give you a memory that’ll last.”_

_“You are such an asshole,” Hux muttered._

_He stepped back and dropped the robe, expertly unhooking the inner seam. He purposefully hadn't worn anything underneath. Hux was drinking it all in,  looking at him like he really would never see him again, like he wanted to remember everything. Kylo took Hux’s wrist again and guided the still gloved hand over his chest and back up to his neck. He pushed down on Hux’s fingers. Hux took the hint and squeezed down hard. Kylo gasped and Hux leaned forward to catch his mouth in a kiss._

_He pushed Hux back and got onto the bed, spreading apart his legs a little. He propped himself up with his elbows, angling his head to look at Hux. Slowly and deliberately he ran his fingers through his hair, knowing exactly what effect it would have on the other man._

_“Fuck you.” Hux’s voice was practically a whisper._

_“Fuck me.”_

_Like a shot, Hux was over there, climbing on top of him. His hips grinded into Kylo and he could feel that Hux was already hard. He grabbed Kylo by the hair and smashed their lips together. “Tease,” he said against his lips though Kylo felt it in his mind more than on his skin._

_Kylo grasped at Hux’s trousers, flicking open the top button and pulling down the zipper. Impatiently, Hux drew back and took them off himself, throwing them by the side of the bed._

_“Aren’t you going to fold those first?” Kylo asked._

_Hux gave a groan of utter frustration and Kylo took that as his cue to get the lube from Hux’s dresser draw. He reached out with the force and the tube flew into his hand._

_“Glad to see that your powers are actually useful for something.”_

_“Just give me your hand.”_

_Hux gave Kylo his hand. Kylo peeled off the gloves and squirted a generous amount of lube onto the Hux’s palm and released his grip. Hux distributed the liquid over his hands and then dipped his arm down to push two slicked fingers up against Kylo’s entrance. Kylo felt his body yield to accommodate them._

_“You’re so tight,” Hux muttered and Kylo wasn’t sure whether it was a compliment, insult or merely a statement of fact._

_Hux moved his fingers in a scissoring motion and Kylo bucked wildly at the pain tinged pleasure of it. Heat pooled. “Add another.”_

_Hux obliged._

_Kylo groaned, impatience itched beneath his skin, the control he'd prided himself on slipping completely. “That’s enough, I’m ready.”_

_Hux didn’t have to be told twice: he pulled his fingers out and took only a moment to get into position before nudging himself inside Kylo. Kylo squirmed and gasped as Hux started to rock his body back and forth, moving with increasing pace_

_He reached up and brought Hux’s head down close enough that he could feel his breath on his chest. “Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye,” he whispered into Hux’s ear. “Goodbye, goodbye.”_

_Hux rolled his hips and thrust harder. His teeth were clamped down hard but it wasn’t enough. “Kylo…” The named was wrenched from Hux’s lips despite himself. Hux was moving desperately against him now, his hand grasping onto Kylo’s cock. Hux had touched him for the barest of instants but it was enough to send him over the edge. He came fast and loud, feeling the room shudder a little as he saw white._

_Hux gave one last thrust, gasped and then stopped, completely spent. He rolled over and flopped down next to Kylo, breathing heavily for several moments._

_“You should go away more often,” he said finally, without vitriol._

_“We’ll see if you’re still saying that when I get back.”_

_“Kylo…” Hux started._

_“What?”_

_“Nothing. Don’t you have a transport have to catch?”_

_He repressed a sigh. “Right.”_

_He got up and rolled off the bed. Hurriedly he put his robes back on, aware that Hux was still watching his every move. He looked in a mirror and straightened the slightly askew collar. He walked to the threshold, fully intending to walk out without a word (it was a time honoured tradition with them)._

_Kylo paused and turned to Hux. “You know that fantasy of yours?”_

_“Which one? As you are well aware, I have many.”_

_“The one you think about all the time. The one where you’re Emperor of the galaxy and I’m there with you.”_

_Hux looked at him with steady eyes. “What about it?”_

_“I don’t see Snoke there.” He wasn’t sure whether he meant it as a statement or a question._

_“No,” said Hux, matter of fact._

_Kylo wasn’t sure what to say to that._

_“Enjoy your trip.” Hux’s tone told him quite clearly that the conversation was closed._

_“Goodbye,” he said, one last time, before leaving the room._

 

He’d fallen into a fitful sleep and woken later, how much later he did not know. He did not feel rested but he doubted he ever would here. His whole body was stiff and cold, aches shooting down his neck and back as he got up. The face just stared at him and Kylo Ren had never felt smaller. Why had Snoke sent him here? He wasn’t ready. How could he face this trial without his guidance? He wanted desperately in that moment to turn back, to run back to his ship and fly back to safety.

 

But he couldn’t. He had been given a task to do. His master would be so disappointed if he just gave up and came back empty handed. The choice was simple: find what he was looking for or perish here.

 

Hux would be insufferably smug if he turned out to be right. 

 

That left one option: he had to get into the tomb. He stared down the face. There _had_ to be an entrance somewhere. He reached out with the force again, not pushing this time but searching. He felt the cool rock as surely as with his hands, brushing every part of the surface to find any weakness. Nothing. He was about to dismiss the search but then there it was – a chip in the stone underneath the bottom lip of the carved face. He walked beneath it and sure enough there was a slight breeze.

 

He pulled up with the force and there was a click. The outline of a door appeared. He pushed and the stone fell to the floor. The inside was dark, so dark he couldn’t see a thing. He walked through without further hesitation. A dim light flickered on and the tomb wall reformed behind him. Of course. He looked down. He was standing on a thin, worn strip of ground. It was much too dry to be the cave floor. It stretched before him so far that he couldn’t see the end. He started to walk. On the left he saw a raised ridge, the floor shiny with water. On the other side, another ridge, coated with hundreds of spiky pieces of rock.

 

He continued down the middle path.

 

“Choose,” a voice bellowed. “You must choose.”

 

Well that was unnerving. Kylo considered his choices and climbed up to the left ridge. He walked a few steps fighting hard to keep his balance with his boots sliding against the slick rock. After nearly toppling to his knees he stopped. Knowing he’d probably regret it but seeing no other option, he removed his shoes and socks. The ground was like ice against his bare feet but it was easier to keep his grip this way.

 

He continued forward.

 

“Your parents are worried about you.”

 

He spun abruptly, almost falling. He thought he saw a phantom, a figure he knew well, but, just as he seemed to face it, it disintegrated into thin air. Unnerved, he slowly spun back, walking further still.

 

A flash of bright, sinister blue cut through the air and he knew.

 

“Uncle,” he said.

 

“You have strayed from the path.”

 

“I tried.” He bit down on his lip so hard he tasted blood.

 

“You failed,” his Uncle was absolute. “The dark is too strong in you.”

 

The salt tang of blood filled his mouth. He bowed his head. He blue light danced before his eyes and he knew what he should do. Kylo drew his blade and lunged forward. The phantom disappeared again and he stumbled through thin air, falling down and down. He landed with a thud on the lower path. He got up and dug his nails into the side, hauling himself up. He would finish this. 

 

Luke was no-where to be seen. 

 

“My son, it’s you.”

 

“Mother,” he breathed. She was no-where to be seen but he would always remember that voice. 

 

“It’s been so long. You’re all grown.”

 

She stepped out of the shadows, allowing him to see her. She looked the same to him, so put together, so resolute. “Mother…” He stepped towards her. The ground was so cold beneath his unsteady feet.

 

She shook her head and stepped back. “I know what you’ve done.”

 

He shook his head. “You know? But I haven’t…You left me.”

 

“I could feel it you brainless boy! You killed my love, you killed your own father! And for what? The poisoned legacy of your grandfather! Get out! The sight of you make me sick!”

 

“Mother, please…”

 

“You made your choice! You made it, just like he did.”

 

He lurched forward and down again. He fell on his back. Part of him wanted to just stay down, to revel in his own failure, but the feeling of cracking earth beneath his body steered him from that path. He had come far, he had to get up. His mind was whirring now. It was becoming very clear. The slippery path had looked appealing but was full of unforeseen perils. The slippery path was the wrong path for him.

 

He hung his head as he realised that he had been tempted yet again. He’d let his guard down and he’d chosen wrongly. The cave did not speak but he could feel its voice in his head. He looked up and saw his true route, the hard path, free of all that seductive sheen.

 

He gritted his teeth and climbed up to the other ledge. He caught his balance and started to walk. The broken rocks rubbed painfully against his bare feet and he almost regretted throwing his boots away. Almost. He had been weak. He _was_ weak. The pain would temper him. The pain would make him strong. He tried to smile as he felt sores form on the bottom on his feet. He was burning from the feet up, he could feel it spreading throughout his body. Out of habit, he punched his side where he wound had been, where the scar still remained. His feet were bleeding now. There were little smears of red left over the rocks as he walked. He continued, hollowed eyed. He could do this, it was all a matter of willpower. All a matter of focus.

 

He did not see any apparitions.

 

A particularly large rock speared his foot, breaking through to the other side. A howl of pain escaped his mouth and he found himself fall to his knees. He winced and looked back for the first time since he had joined the path. There was a trail of blood stretching on and on. He looked up ahead and saw no end in sight. He looked back again and the rocks shifted suddenly.

 

This was not good.

 

All of a sudden they were running downhill, he scrambled to try to find his balance but he was already swept up, the rocks were piling up at the bottom and he found himself joining them, back on the worn path.

 

He didn’t hesitate,  hesitating had gotten him thrown from the path in the first place. He used the rocks to climb up against them, fighting against them as they started to fall down again. He made it back up. He looked down at the path to failure, steeled himself and continued. He thought the short break might have helped him heal. He was wrong. His feet stung, more than stung really. His body sung out in agony but he knew he couldn’t make it across to the path of painlessness even if he wanted to. And he wasn’t getting back down.

 

“You are doing so well my apprentice.” That was Snoke’s voice now. He felt the threat of shameful tears of gratitude but he did not yield to them. Instead, he sped up his pace, hoping to see his master, if only in spirit, but the darkness gave him no sight of him. 

 

But he could still hear his voice. “You are so close to your destiny. Can you feel it?”

 

“I can feel it, master, I feel it!” he shouted out into the darkness. “Please, I’m ready. Tell me what I must do!”

 

He tried not to feel ridiculous when he got no answer. He edged forward, too tired to lift his feet. He would be surprised if he had skin left on the bottom of his feet by the end of this. He took out his lightsaber and pushed the bottom, at least this way he’d be able to see what was up ahead of him.  The red blade of light blazed in the darkness but the path ahead of him remained veiled. What power was this? He sliced the air up ahead of him but it did nothing to cut the darkness. He recalled the blade and tried to continue even as hopelessness bloomed in his mind. Perhaps he couldn’t see an end because there was no end.

 

Perhaps Hux was right.  

 

Just then he saw something, something flickering from the corner of his eye. He turned sharply, realising a second too late that it was trick. He slid abruptly down the rocks and back onto the path. He didn’t get up this time. He could hear Snoke’s whispered voice from the top again but he just couldn’t move. He wasn’t worthy of his teachings.

 

He started to sob now, pathetic tears brimming over the lids of his eyes and falling pointlessly onto the dry ground, into which they quickly sank and vanished. He was finished. He would stay here and let his body waste away into the ground. He would have peace. He would have oblivion. The voices were louder now; his mother and his Uncle’s voices were echoing again and again, bouncing off the cave walls and returning. Snoke's voice was so far away. So hard to reach. 

 

“Choose, you must choose.” The voice of the cave boomed again, cold, unaffected by the display of weakness he saw before him. It cut through the other voices easily.

 

“I have already chosen!” he shouted, his throat was hoarse. “I’ve chosen a thousand times.”

 

“You must choose.”

 

“How many times do I have to choose?”

 

“It’s alright.” Kylo looked up, eyes still sore, to face this yet new sight. It was Hux. He was standing there on the path in front of him in his giant coat, expression neutral, his tone strange and ambiguous. “Just come with me.”

 

He didn’t move. He was so tired, so tired of being told to go this way and that. So tired of it all.

 

Hux held his gaze. “Just trust me.”

 

Kylo looked desperately between the two paths up above him, the slippery and the painful. He looked back at Hux.

 

Hux was unwavering. “You don’t need them. Come with me, Kylo.”

 

He felt his breath hitch as he walked forward and reached for Hux’s hand.

_‘This is a trap,’_ he thought when it was already far too late. He had made the decision, he was in motion. His feet were moving without thinking, edging toward the figure he knew could not be real. He desperately hoped that the cave would give him a quick end for his failure. He only- He almost managed to reach the hand as he fell through air and into darkness. He couldn’t see but he could feel that something was different: the air was fresher, cooler. The ground felt solid beneath his feet. He took a moment and just caught his breath, revelling in the luxury of time and silence.

 

 It took his eyes a minute to adjust but when they did, he realised that he was in some kind of inner chamber. The paths were gone. He had reached the end. He felt not quite triumphant, he was too tired for that. But relief, he felt. Relief that there was an end, no matter what that turned out to be. He knew he was looking for an artifact. Something that would bestow teachings upon him. He scanned the room and he saw it. A pillar in the centre with a cube shaped object placed on top: the holocron. He walked over and put his hand on it, feeling it hum with ancient power beneath his touch. Without thinking he reached out and just took it. He held it in the palm of his hand and turned it over and over. It looked identical from every side, as flawless as the carved face. He sent out waves with the force.

 

It didn’t do anything.

 

The cave on the other hand, did. The ground started to rumble and Kylo could recognise a bad sign when he felt it, so he turned and started to run. He ran down the path and felt it start to disintegrate beneath his feet. The voices echoed louder than ever. Luke. His mother. All of them. He ignored them and ran.

 

He was almost there, almost to safety. The journey out seemed much shorter somehow. 

 

The path in front of him vanished, stone plummeting down into the void. Without thinking, he reached out with the force and jumped, pulling and pulling. He looked down and for a brief moment he thought he would fall into the pit. He closed his eyes and pushed with all his power, as hard as he could. He hurtled onto the ground outside the cave, landing face first onto the dirt. His whole body sighed, like he was melting into the ground. Bright light shined upon his skin. He had made it.

 

Notes

I should probably note that the versions of characters that appear here are just how Kylo perceives them/how the creepy Sith cave wants Kylo to think of them. Luke is my favourite Star Wars character so it’s kind of weird for me to write him (and Leia) in such a negative light but it’s from Kylo’s POV so *shrugs* Not to mention, this kind of ‘mystical sequence’ is hard to write because you want it to mean something but at the same, you don’t want it to feel like you’re shoving metaphors in your readers’ faces.  

Also, remember when I thought this fic would only have like three chapters?  I’m on chapter 4 now and I haven’t gotten through half the story, haha. I’ve revised my plans and it looks like it’s going to be 9 chapters long in total; hopefully I’ll be able to stick to that because it actually creates an even three act structure, which is pretty neat (watch me mess this up now).

 

Please leave a comment if you liked it and let me know what you think! The wonderful comments you all leave really do keep me going :)


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kylo reaches a breaking point and comes to a snap decision regarding his relationship with Hux.

“Lord Ren,” Hux greeted him, stiffly. He seemed entirely displeased that his volatile colleague had returned so soon. However, appearances could be deceiving and Hux was a master of the icy façade. The force was telling Kylo an entirely different story about the Hux’s feelings; he was, in fact, quite relieved to see him. Kylo wondered just how desperate Hux was after all that time alone and no-one to indulge that imagination of his.  It must have been a lot if he was actually pleased to see him back.

 

Honestly, Kylo was glad to be back too. He hadn’t spoken to another sentient in nearly two weeks; there was only so much isolation he could take. “General Hux,” he said, in matching cold tones. “I have a meeting with Supreme Leader Snoke but I will debrief you later.”

 

“I look forward to it.” Hux had managed to suck every ounce of meaning out of the words. Kylo could see stormtroopers exchanging looks through helmets, hoping that their leaders wouldn’t be getting into another argument. Again. If only they knew.

 

“I take my leave of you then,” he said, not bothering to wait for Hux’s response.

 

* * *

 

 

“I see that you have returned triumphant. I had every confidence you would but, still, I am very proud, my apprentice.”

 

“Master, I do not deserve such appreciation. I was not fully successful. I have the holocron here with me but I could not activate it.” He had tried everything he could think of on the journey back but the cube had just sat there silently. He would have suspected it for a fake were it not for the energy he could feel coming off it in waves. No, the failure was with him, not the holocron. He thought back to the cave and the choices he had had. Perhaps it knew that he wasn’t pure. He hoped that Snoke couldn’t sense it in him. The last thing he wanted was for the Supreme Leader to doubt his commitment to their cause.

 

Snoke shook his head kindly, giving no indication that he had heard Kylo’s throughts. “You have tremendous capabilities but these holocrons are capricious objects - that you retrieved it at all is testament to your great power.” Snoke paused, considering. “Leave it with me. I will unlock its secrets soon enough and together we will master them.”

 

“It will be done.” He stepped forward and deposited the object onto a small metal plate beneath the hologram. Registering the weight of the holocron, the plate began a descent, carrying it away. Kylo wasn’t sure how it worked but Snoke could collect small objects this way if necessary. Of course, he'd never asked. 

 

“Good. There have been a few setbacks with the construction of the Starkiller II whilst you were away but now that you are back, I feel assured that we will be able to _persuade_ them to get back on schedule.”

 

Kylo tried not to show his surprise. He had thought it had been made very clear when he left that the work was to be completed on time. “Of course, master.” He knew exactly who would be blamed if the base was not completed soon and it would not be him.

 

He would get the construction back on track immediately.

 

“Good. Now that we have agreed, we can move onto the next stage. Bring the prisoner from his cell – there’s one last thing you must do to him and then he’ll be completely ready – now is the time to release him.”

 

Kylo obeyed without question.

 

* * *

 

 

“So you’re back,” Hux said, surveying him. He wondered what Hux was seeing. A brief glance in the ship’s mirror had showed him skin made pallid by lack of sunlight exposure and weight loss from the exertion and lack of food. He supposed Hux noticed too, as he always seemed to notice everything, but he always seemed to look different through his General's eyes. Better, he supposed. 

 

Looking back at Hux he noted that his skin was also little paler than usual. There were dark circles under his eyes and Kylo wondered whether he’d been staying up late to get the Starkiller II finished. It was odd really, Hux had always seemed to be the type to thrive on the adrenaline of sleepless nights; he'd seen him work through the night and give not so much as a yawn. “I am and you’re still here too. Told you that you were being paranoid,” he gloated.

 

“Yes we are.” Hux didn’t sound reassured or even annoyed at Kylo’s ‘I told you so.’ His eyes were squint in such a way that Kylo could tell that he was still deeply suspicious, though not of him.

 

“Although I’ve been told that there have been some hold-ups with the Starkiller II, that we are a couple of days behind schedule. Snoke is concerned.” 

 

“I told you from the start we would struggle to get it done on his schedule,” Hux said, blandly.

 

Kylo’s mouth dropped open slightly as Hux’s mind shouted the truth loudly, despite the man’s best efforts to keep a lid on it. “You delayed the construction on _purpose_. Why would you do that? Are you _trying_ to antagonise Snoke? You’re not indispensible to him, you know. Or do you just have no loyalty?” He caught his breath, his hands bunched in fists at his side. The anger was so sudden, so violent. It took him by surprise, this intensity of emotion over a project he wasn’t even that invested in. He wanted it done because Snoke wanted it done but it wasn’t _personal_ …

 

Hux shook his head and sighed. “I’ll get it done on time now. I just wanted to make sure – well, you know what I thought.”

 

Kylo brought his fist down against his own leg but the anger did not dissipate. He still didn’t fully understand and Hux, unusually, seemed almost tongue-tied. “I hope that this will be the end of this.” He felt sure that Hux could hear the hint of second-hand menace in his voice.

 

“What happened in the cave?” Hux liked to do this, to avoid answering questions by throwing in a non-sequitur. The worst thing about it was that Kylo almost always fell for it even as he realised what was happening.

 

“It’d be difficult for a non-force user to understand.” In truth, he hadn’t completely processed it himself, the images played over and over in his mind but conclusion evaded him. And he certainly didn’t feel like disclosing that he had seen Hux in vision form – there was no way to explain that. No way that wouldn’t make him look weak.

 

“Cut the superiority, just try me.”

 

“I’ve told you, the mystical side of the force is not readily understood by those unfamiliar with it.”

 

Hux rolled his eyes. “I don’t need to know the ins and outs, I’m frankly not that interested.” It was a lie of course, Hux was very interested in how the force worked, but he wasn’t quite willing to admit it out loud. “I just want to know what took you so long.”

 

“You might want to know but that doesn’t mean I have to tell you.”

 

Hux just looked at him, persistent as ever.

 

Kylo buckled. “Fine. I went into the cave and there were trials there waiting for me. Temptations and dangers – things that would kill me or keep me in the cave forever.”

 

“But you survived.”

 

_‘Barely,’_ Kylo thought. “Obviously,” he said.

 

“And what did you get out of this exactly?”

 

“I found a Sith holocron – they’re records of ancient secrets – then the cave started to collapse. I made it out and brought the holocron back to Snoke. And that’s it, so you can stop asking questions.”

 

“And how did Snoke react?” Hux asked like a shot.

 

Kylo sighed, so the conversation wasn’t over after all and they were back on Snoke again. “He seemed pleased that I had passed the trials and brought the holocron back for him.”

 

“Of course he _seemed_ pleased but he’s never in the same room with you is he? So you would have no way of knowing what he was feeling?” said Hux. Kylo could feel him turning it all over in his mind again – why couldn’t he just let it rest?

 

Kylo flexed his fingers in and out of a fist. He’d had these thoughts himself, treacherous little questions lurking in the back of his mind, but he’d worked hard to banish them. They were just leftovers from his indoctrination to the light: Snoke had done everything to earn his loyalty. Of course, he knew Hux wasn’t attacking it from that angle – he was just being petty. He took a breath and made sure his voice was perfectly even when he spoke. “You’re reaching. You’re just annoyed because your theory turned out not to be true.”

 

“Or maybe he expected the cave to kill you.”

 

Force, Hux had an answer for everything. “Just stop! You could just say that you’re glad that I’m back if that’s what you mean.”

 

Hux ignored the attempt to divert him completely. “Do you know what’s on the holocron?”

 

“I tried to activate it but it didn’t work. So I gave it to Snoke. He will share the knowledge with me once he receives it,” he said, flatly.

 

“I’m sure he will.”

 

“I didn’t come here to talk about Snoke!” He waved his arm and a stack of datapads fell off the shelves.

 

“So what _did_ you come here for?” The words might have been flirtatious had Hux’s tone not been so serious.  

 

“Just get the construction back on schedule or I’ll be forced to take action!” he shouted before storming out.

 

* * *

 

 

He went back to the bridge and supervised, startling stormtroopers with the mere sight of him. Good. They had probably gotten complacent in his absence. He just stood there watching everything, all too aware that in his robes and mask he cut a menacing figure. At one point a stormtrooper approached him to discuss the progress and he had only turned to look at him but that had been enough for the man to quake beneath his uniform.

 

The man gave his report to the best of his ability and Kylo just stood there and listened. “Snoke wants this done a lot faster,” he said, finally once the man had finished. “I don’t know what General Hux told you, but from now on you will follow orders from the top. I don’t want to see you again until these remodels are completely finished.”

 

“Yes sir,” the stormtrooper barked.

 

Now that was what Kylo wanted; a simple response to orders from the Supreme Leader, not all this questioning and paranoid conspiracy theories.

 

The doors opened and Hux joined him on the bridge. To his credit, he did not look at Kylo, merely walked past him and went to look at the work, stopping to give instructions to specific individuals and sending messages to others working on the actual site. To most observers, it would seem that he hadn’t even noticed Kylo’s presence. Kylo didn’t have to use the force to know that wasn’t true. He could see it in the way that Hux held his neck that he was hyper aware of being watched but that he was making a point. He was doing his job - making sure that everything was getting done efficiently – he was doing everything he supposed to do. It could be a surrender, an admission that Kylo had been right. But more likely that he was just being childish, making a show of doing his job, knowing that Kylo couldn’t do anything about it because they were in public and he had no reason he could give to justify his anger. Even Kylo Ren didn’t fly off the handle at random and Phasma was giving them looks as it was.

 

He stood there and simmered beneath his mask until his allotted time was over. Hux pretended not to notice when Kylo left to pick up food from the dining hall.

 

* * *

 

 

Kylo entered his room and came to a dead halt at the unexpected sight of Hux sitting in his chair. Kylo had always gone to Hux’s quarters. In fact, Hux hadn’t been here since he’d gone to wake him up and found him in a state of undress. That felt so long ago now, like something from a former life. It was strange to think that they hadn’t always been doing this. Whatever this was. He wondered what would have happened if Hux hadn't turned up that morning, if he had remained oblvious to Hux's desires. 

 

“What?” he snapped, slamming his tray of food down on his desk. “What do you want now? To fill my head with more paranoid delusions? Or are you just hoping to get off?”

 

Hux stood up, face expressionless. “Can’t you tell?”

 

Kylo clutched at his head. “No and I don’t feel like going through your mind. Choose or leave.”

 

“I’ve said what I have to say about Snoke. It’s your decision whether you listen or not.” There was a touch of superiority in Hux’s tone. “You’ve seen me work. I’m following orders.”

 

“So it’s the latter then? You can stay then but I warn you that I’m in no mood to fulfil your little fantasies.”

 

“Alright,” said Hux. He stood up and started to unbutton his coat. “Tell me what you want.”

 

Kylo stalked across the room. “I want you to stop talking.” He grasped the sides of Hux’s face and pulled their mouths together. He pushed Hux up against a wall, still locked in the kiss. This was what he had wanted since the moment he had stepped off the ship. Not the plots or the petty arguments. Just this. He stripped Hux of the coat and let it fall in a crumple to the ground, resisting the petty urge to step on it as he did. He hated that ridiculous thing.

 

He felt Hux’s hands on his robes, shakily looking for the seam. It took him only a moment before he found it and he felt his own robes drop. He pulled away from Hux just long enough to tug the other man’s shirt off over his head, mussing up his red hair in the process, and got started on his belt. There were always too many components to Hux’s outfit, too many barriers between him and Hux’s bare skin. Finally, he got him free and they pressed up against each other, skin to skin. Clumsily, they stumbled onto the bed, Kylo falling on top of Hux.

 

“Ooof.”

 

Kylo mockingly mimicked the sound.

 

“You’re heavy.” Hux sounded as though he'd had the wind knocked out of him. 

 

Kylo shifted slightly, distributing his weight a little more evenly, but kept his position on top of Hux. “I thought I told you to shut up.”

 

A playful smile tugged at the corners of Hux’s mouth. “And since when do I follow your orders?”

 

“You might like it if you try it.” He repressed a smile of his own, shooting for angry but failing miserably. “Not everything has to go according to your plans.”

 

Hux tilted his head to the side, looking up at him with hungry eyes. His red hair looked so bright against the black of Kylo’s pillow case. He brought a finger to his lips and pulled it down. Kylo wasn’t sure how he had made doing a ‘shhhing’ sign look sexual but somehow he had managed it. He leaned down and caught Hux’s mouth in a kiss.

 

This was going to be fun.  

 

* * *

 

Kylo woke up early the next morning. He felt Hux lying next to him before he saw him. His eyes flew open and he rolled over to confirm what his senses were telling him. For his trouble, he was confronted with the sight of famed control-freak General Hux in a vulnerable state of deep sleep, mouth hanging slightly open in an entirely undignified manner. He doubted that he had meant to fall asleep, after all _he_ hadn’t meant to fall asleep either but his experience in the cave had drained him. Hux had looked tired too, he reminded himself. It was an accident on both their parts, no-one to be blamed.

 

It was just odd. They’d never actually slept together. Him having a nap in Hux’s bed that one time was the closest that they had actually come to it. A strange, uncomfortable feeling bubbled in his chest. He felt hyper aware of his skin and where it touched Hux’s, all the hairs on his arm were standing on end, shivering at the contact. The impulse to throw back the covers, and just leave, rose uselessly in him. His eyelids felt so heavy, his limbs so paralysed with sleep. It wasn’t as though he could just leave Hux there. It wouldn’t look right, the General coming out of Kylo’s otherwise empty quarters in the morning. No. He would just have to bear it. The bed was so pleasantly warm…He closed his eyes again and let dizziness overtake him.  

 

He fell asleep instantly. 

* * *

 

Hux was still there when he next awoke. 

 

“Morning,” Hux muttered, watching his reaction closely.

 

“Yeah, morning.”

 

Hux’s face felt too close to his for them not to be kissing or fighting, too close for him just to be looking at him with those steady green eyes. He was surprised that Hux hadn’t just left but perhaps he had only just woken up himself.

 

Hux brought his hand up to Kylo’s face and brushed aside an errant strand of hair. “Looks like you actually woke up on time for once.” He didn’t let go, just started fiddling with the ends absently. “I’ll leave first but you follow me to the door to see me out – I’ll make a comment about the difficulties with the schedule. You can smash something – something non-essential mind – if you like. It’ll make it look more believable that we actually were just in a private meeting.”

 

“You’re touching my hair,” said Kylo, unable to parse his thoughts any better.

 

Hux gave a snort of laughter. “I’ve already touched every other part of you and you’re worried about your hair. Hate to tell you but you had a bed-head already.”

 

“That’s not…” Kylo trailed off. Hux was still looking at him. He wished he would just stop looking at him. The air felt thick and oppressive, saturated with some strange emotion. “What _is_ that?” He shot out of bed, slapping Hux’s hand away, panic lancing through him.

 

Hux sat up slowly, the bedsheet falling to reveal his bare chest. “What is what? What are you talking about?”

 

“ _Are_ you a traitor? Are you with the resistance?” he grasped wildly for explanations of what he was sensing.

 

Hux’s face contorted into a mocking expression. “Kylo, that’s ridiculous. I hate the resistance, you know that.”

 

Kylo grabbed Hux’s face, forcing himself into his mind.

 

“I don’t know what you’re looking for but you’re not going to find it,” Hux said, calmly. “But feel free to search.”

 

Kylo dropped his grasp, hyperventilating now. Nothing. Hux’s will was as set as ever, his goals the same as they had been from the first moment Kylo had looked into his mind and yet- He backed away but still he could feel it, Hux’s emotions coursing through his veins like poison. He had to get out of there. He had to get as far away as possible. He scrambled to pick his clothing off the floor, pulling it on as quickly as possible.

 

“What’s going on?” It was there in Hux’s voice. He couldn’t believe that he hadn’t heard it before. How long had this been going on?

 

He grabbed his helmet and fled without a word, barrelling down the corridors to the safety of a meditation chamber. He felt himself sway slightly as he walked. He was just so dizzy. He made it to the room and near enough fell through the door, feeling no relief when it closed behind him. Alone, he slumped the floor, legs splaying at strange angles. His whole body was shaking, sweat was beading at his temples. He was infected with it. The light, it _burned_. It was in his chest and in his head and everywhere.

 

Hux had done this to him.

 

The walls of this ship felt so small, too small. He wanted _off_. He wanted to breathe fresh air. He wanted an end, and end to this. He was being forced to choose again but there _was_ no choice. He had already gone too far. Everything he had done flickered before his eyes. Had he left the cave at all? Or was he still there? Perhaps he had always been there. His whole body shuddered, rejecting the idea. He couldn’t turn back but the path seemed so unclear before him.

 

He pulled his helmet off and frantically tried to wipe the sweat off with his hands. His eyes were stinging again. He needed to see Snoke but how could he let his master see him in this state? He tried to picture Darth Vader's helmet, his centre, but it was faint in his mind. It was in there, in his room, with _him._ A pang shot through his chest at just the thought of that. He shook his head and closed his eyes and tried to burn the simple image into his brain. The helmet, just the helmet, sitting in a perfect vacuum.

_‘What should I do? What would you do?_ ’ he thought wildly. There was no answer of course. He had meditated and prayed so many times but he’d never seen the image of his grandfather, never received his guidance. He had never proved himself worthy and that wouldn’t change now. The cave had proved it: he would never truly be worthy.

 

Desperately he ran through everything he had ever known about Vader, about Anakin Skywalker, true or false, just looking for _something._ An answer, a way out, and end. Anything to take this pain away. Thoughts flew through his mind – everything Luke had ever told him about his grandfather, all the morality tales, everything Snoke had corrected. Everything he had found out on his own. All the rumours, the conflicting accounts about what happened to him. It was all a jumble.

 

And then there it was: shining clarity amidst the confusion. He became eerily and instantly calm as he hit upon the solution.

 

* * *

 

He walked slowly back his quarters. He had smoothed his hair and cleaned off his face. He had regained control. He knew what he had to do and he would do it. Hux was still there. Kylo knew he would be. He had gotten dressed and was doing work on a datapad.

 

“Have you calmed down?” Hux asked, the reluctant concern on his face now completely apparent to Kylo. How had he missed this before? “What was that even about? Accusing me of being a resistance defector – I’ve never heard anything so ridiculous,” Hux continued.

 

Kylo shrugged.

 

“Is this about the cave? I’ve heard that these places can show you strange things, lies meant to deceive anyone who enters. Perhaps this is a side effect.”

 

Kylo didn’t have to reach to know what lines Hux was thinking along. “It’s not- No. Just be quiet for a moment.” He tried to gather his thoughts enough to speak coherently but he ended up blurting it in a horrible rush anyway. “You love me.”

 

Hux actually flinched back. He didn’t say anything and Kylo could feel the truth of his words stronger than ever. It was all so obvious now that he knew.

 

“I could feel it,” he babbled. This was oddly nerve-wracking. “I woke up this morning and I could just feel – I just knew that you love me.”

 

“This is not how these things usually go. It’s entirely ridiculous for you to confess my feelings for you.” Hux’s voice was deceptively calm but Kylo could see him trembling slightly.

 

“Were you ever going to tell me?”

 

Hux looked away. “Stop playing, Ren. Just do it.”

 

It was almost reassuring to know that Hux could still sound entirely irritated with him but it felt wrong for Hux to address him as Ren now. “Do what?”

 

“End this; try to expel me from the order, or whatever it is you came here to do.” His posture was unbowed, straight and proud as ever, his mouth set in resignation.

 

“Marry me.”

 

Notes

Dun dun dun! Soap-opera cliffhanger moment! I’ve been looking forward to writing this part of the story for a while.

 

If you’re thinking that Kylo is moving quite fast all of a sudden, you’re right and don’t worry it’s intentional. (Although compared to the fact that Anakin and Padme get married after knowing each other as adults for like two weeks, Kylo proposing is practically a long awaited event.)

 

Thanks to everyone who leaves kudos and comments. I really do welcome any feedback!


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hux decides whether or not to accept Kylo's proposal.

“What?”

 

“Marry me,” Kylo repeated.

 

“No, I heard you quite clearly – I mean _why?”_ Hux had his arms crossed in front of his chest, his lips pursed.

“Why?”

 

“Stop repeating everything I say, just answer the question. Why?”

 

“Why not?” He knew as soon as the words out of his mouth that it was the wrong thing to say. He’d had a plan, it had seemed so obvious, but actually executing it was another thing entirely. He hadn’t expected to be this nervous.

 

“Why not?” Hux roared. “You freak out, accuse me of being a traitor, have the gall to tell me that it was because of _my_ feelings and now you ask me to marry you? What ever made you think that this was a good idea?”

 

Kylo scrambled around for words. He’d never actually seen Hux this openly angry. “Look, I’ve been inside your mind many times. You’ve always wanted me, always wanted me all to yourself. Well, isn’t that what marriage is?”

 

Hux deflated, anger draining away from his face. He surveyed Kylo, shaking his head. “I’ll think about it but I have to tell you, I’m leaning heavily towards no at this moment in time.”

 

“But-”

 

“No. Some of us have to get to work.” With that Hux walked out without so much as a goodbye.

 

* * *

 

 

Kylo caught up to Hux several hours later on the bridge. Hux was reading a datapad whilst an officer stood around, twitching nervously.

 

“Have you considered the proposition further, General?” said Kylo bluntly.

 

Hux gave him a look like murder and Kylo was suddenly extremely grateful that Hux wasn’t Force sensitive. Hux turned to the officer and handed back the datapad. “This looks fine for now. Dismissed.”

 

The officer looked startled to be given back his work without any corrections from the famously pedantic General Hux. “Yes, sir.” He saluted and made a hasty exit.

 

Hux darted his eyes about the ship, indicating all the people surrounding them. None of them looked concerned with Hux or Kylo, all consumed by various tasks, but that didn’t mean they weren’t listening. No-one would be stupid enough to openly stare at their two leaders when they were in the middle of one of their arguments. “What do you think you’re doing?” he hissed, under his breath.

 

“I am simply asking whether you have changed your mind about that plan that I proposed in our latest meeting.”

 

“I have not,” said Hux, shortly.

 

“What’s stopping you?”

 

Hux opened his mouth, looked around, then closed it again. “I don’t even know where to begin but the logistics for one thing.”

 

“Logistics?” Kylo parroted.

 

“I've already told you not to repeat everything I say."

 

Kylo swept off without a word; this was not the end of it.

 

* * *

 

 

“We’ve picked up a First Order ship on our scanner – just one, small too,” Jess Pava said, squinting at the monitors.

 

“Spy mission?” Finn suggested. “It looks like they kind of craft they’d send for intelligence gathering.”

 

“I don’t think so,” said Leia, peering at the monitor. “I think I sense something…”

 

Jess pointed at a flashing light on the dashboard. “They’re attempting to make communication!”

 

They all looked at the General.

 

“Well, put it through! We might as well hear what they have to say.”

 

Jess pressed a button.

 

“Hello? Is that the Resistance?”

 

The voice was familiar.

 

“Poe,” Finn breathed, a slow smile spreading over his face. “It’s him. He’s alive!”

 

Jess turned to him and they shared celebratory looks. Leia smiled faintly. “Let’s not celebrate too soon.”

 

“What should we tell him?” Jess asked, all business again.

 

“Tell him to stay put,” Leia ordered. “Finn, you and I will go to him.”

 

* * *

 

 

Kylo returned within the hour carrying a datapad displaying a large picture of a nearby planet.

 

Hux sighed. “Can’t this wait? As you have made abundantly clear, it is very important that the Starkiller II will be finished in time.”

 

“Thanks to your hard work, everything is already on schedule. It will be finished in two and a half days, I have every confidence,” Kylo said and a stormtrooper flinched, likely assuming it was a covert threat rather than a genuine compliment.

 

Hux shot him a look as to say ‘I told you there were people listening in.’

 

Kylo ignored it completely. Very soon these people wouldn’t matter at all, if they ever had. “This project is even more urgent. It would have to be within in the next day or so.”

 

That got Hux’s attention, his eyes widened then narrowed in quick succession. “Within the next day?”

 

Kylo couldn’t answer the question without abandoning all secrecy so he chose to return to waving the datapad in Hux’s face. “See, this planet would be an ideal venue for our plans. It is within travelling distance and I have contacts on the surface that would be more than happy to accommodate the First Order’s needs.”

 

Hux did not look particularly impressed. “I will discuss this with you later, Lord Ren.”

 

“But not too much later,” Kylo added, earning himself another barely contained glare from Hux.

 

_‘I hope the General and Lord Ren don’t kill each other before the base gets finished,”_ Kylo heard a stormtrooper think loudly as he walked on by.

 

* * *

 

“How are you feeling?” Finn asked, looking Poe over. His face was pallid and marked with an assortment of crusting scars. The clothes were hanging off his body; clearly he had lost a lot of weight. Even his hair had lost its shine. Finn was caught between the desperate happiness just to see him alive and utter sorrow at what had clearly been done to him.

 

“I’m fine.” Poe’s smile was wide as ever but there was a crack in his voice. “Just glad to be home.”

 

“How did you get home?” General Leia asked, cautiously.

 

Poe shifted his gaze to her, startled, and she softened ever so slightly. “Sorry, but you know I have to ask.” 

 

“It’s alright,” he said. He looked at Finn then back away. “I had a vision – I suppose it was the Force. I saw...Well, I saw you, Finn. You showed me the way out.”

 

“But I didn’t…I don’t have that power,” Finn protested, hanging his head a little. If he had had that power then he would have been able to save Poe before any of this had happened. 

 

Poe shrugged. “I guess it could have been the dehydration talking but it felt different. It felt _real_.”

 

Leia sighed. “It’s a dark-side trick. It’s as I feared: they wanted you to escape.” She took out a scanner and waved it up and down Poe’s body. It started beeping once she got to the left-side of his torso. She looked at him and he looked back, sudden sinking realisation in his eyes. 

 

He grabbed at his shirt pulling it up. There was a small shiny red scar, inconsequential compared to his other markings. He ran his finger over it and looked, panicked at the General. She scanned it again. It beeped.

 

“Tracking device. They let you go so you’d lead them right to us.”

 

Poe sank into a chair, guilt clouding his face.

 

“It’s not your fault,” Finn said, quickly. “We can turn it off, can’t we, General?”

 

“It’ll hurt like hell but we can get it out. We’ll stay here; maintain a distance from the fleet. That’d buy a little time in case of an attack. Finn, send for a medic, a mechanic and my brother.”

 

Finn gave her a quizzical look in response to the last one.

 

“We had better hope that the tracker is the only thing they’ve done to him but with the dark-side, it’s always better to make sure.”

 

* * *

 

 

Hux was unsurprised to find Kylo lurking in his quarters when he got back.

 

“That was a highly unprofessional display today,” he said in clipped tones. “Have you forgotten what Phasma said?”

 

“It’s not as though anyone realised! And we’re alone now so you can stop dodging the question!”

 

“You still haven’t answered my question: why? You say it has to be now. Right before the base is completed. I don’t think the timing is a coincidence.” Hux was looking at him with pure suspicion.

 

“Can’t you just trust me? I trusted _you_ ,” Kylo blurted in frustration.

 

“Again, care to tell me what you’re talking about?”

 

Kylo lasted approximately 30 seconds under the intensity of Hux’s stare before cracking. “Fine, you were right. It is about the cave.” He chewed at his lip and avoided Hux’s eyes. It took him a while to find the words to start. “In the cave I was tested with apparitions of sorts.”

 

“Apparitions, like, ghosts?” Hux repeated, sceptically.

 

“Not exactly. More like visions of people I know or have known. Visions meant to test me, to exploit my weaknesses.” He sighed. "You know the Force is real. Don't doubt it now."

 

“Alright,” Hux said, still sounding cautious but not as openly disdainful. “So who did you see?”

 

“There were two sides, two paths for me to climb. On one I saw my mother and my uncle, and on the other, Snoke. They were pulling me in two. I couldn’t last on either path.” His voice sounded detached to his own ears. He hadn't wanted to share this with anyone but he couldn't let this go without knowing he had done everything he could. 

 

“Then what?” Hux prompted. His voice was neutral but Kylo didn’t want to look into Hux’s mind to see what he thought of him now. He didn’t want to see pity or disgust at his weakness.

 

But he’d come this far. He had to finish. “I saw you. You told me to follow you and I did. And I made it. I made it through safely because of you.”

 

Hux sighed. It was not a sigh of exasperation; it was far too gentle despite itself. He laced his fingers in Kylo’s, nonchalantly, like it was an unconscious accident (but Kylo could tell it wasn’t). “Alright but why now? Where’s the urgency?”

 

“Because I think you may be right about Snoke. I'm not meant to follow his path and he’s definitely planning something big and I-”

 

“Better late than never, I suppose.” Hux said and Kylo realised he was talking about Snoke. “What made you change your mind?”

 

Kylo shrugged. “Just little things. Look, it doesn’t matter – I just know something is going to happen. If you marry me, we’ll be Force-bonded and-”

 

“Force-bonded? I’ve not heard of that.”

 

“No reason you should have, it’s very rare. But it’ll let me sense if you’re in danger, wherever you are. That way nothing can happen without me knowing. I won’t be inside your mind all the time, just when it matters. And look, I don’t know what Snoke’s plan is but I know he wouldn’t hesitate to sacrifice you.”

 

Hux looked through him, taking it all in. He narrowed his eyes and then focused back on Kylo. “I think I understand but I have one more question.”

 

“What?”

 

“Why do you want to keep me safe?”

 

Kylo was taken aback. “Well, I mean – that’s obvious, isn’t it.”

 

“Is it?”

 

Kylo felt a humiliating rush of blood to his face. “Well, it’s because I, you know-”

 

Hux wasn’t going to make this any easier for him. “Because?”

 

“Because I love you!”

 

Hux smirked. “I’m not sure I caught that, could you say it again?”

 

“I thought we’d already established there’s nothing wrong with your ears,” Kylo mumbled.

 

“Yes.”

 

“Then you obviously don’t need me to repeat myself.”

 

“No, Kylo, I mean _yes._ ”

 

“Yes, as in?”

 

“As in, yes. You’re quite pretty slow on the uptake today, aren’t you?”

 

Kylo couldn’t even muster a scowl at that. “Wait a minute. Was hearing me confess my love really the only thing you were waiting for?”

 

Hux broke into a smirk. “No, I was convinced after you told me about Snoke. I just wanted to hear you say it. You deserved it after you spontaneously decided to make a great confession from me to you on my behalf.”

 

“Argh, you…” Kylo didn’t even bother to finish his sentence. He just grabbed Hux and kissed him long and hard.

 

“Right,” Hux said. He had his 'General' face on. “So, how exactly are we going to do this?”

 

“Right, so like I said. I have contacts on a local planetary system and I _may_ have already asked them to perform the service tonight.”

 

“So arrogant. You know I could always change my mind,” said Hux, giving a brief burst of a smile before reigning it sharply back in. “Right, well I understand that. But what’s the excuse for us going? How are we going to get there? How are we going to keep the news from getting out?”

 

Kylo gave him a sheepish smile. “I thought you were finished with questions.”

 

“I’ve only just begun to ask questions: Are we coming straight back or are we going to stay on the planet overnight? What are we going to wear? How does the Force-bonding work?”

 

“Is fashion really more important to you than the mechanics of Force-bonding?” Kylo pondered.

 

“Well, it’s supposed to be a secret so it’s not like I can go in uniform. You can’t wear your robes either. You’re lucky that no-one really knows your face but they’d definitely recognise you in that outfit.” Hux sighed. “You haven’t thought this through at all have you?”

 

“Well…” Kylo said, trailing off. “I could tell you how Force-bonding works? It’s actually quite simple…”

 

Hux raised a hand to silence him. “It was a rhetorical question. I know you’re not one for details. Now, here’s what’s going to happen: You are going to go back to your own quarters, rummage through your wardrobe and find a suitable outfit. You will come back in an hour and I will have everything arranged. Understand?”

 

“Yes, General.”

 

“That’s what I like to hear.”

 

* * *

 

 

“You’re remarkably free of dark-side influence,” Luke declared cheerily. “ You can go rest, you deserve it.”

 

Poe nodded and walked off, not looking too reassured.

 

Leia grabbed Luke’s arm. “How bad is it really?”

 

Luke sighed. “He’s perfectly safe for us. They used hallucinations to coax him off the ship, to try to paper over the damage they had already done to him, but I can’t sense anything that would lead me to believe that he would be a threat.” He paused. “But he’s been put through hell. The damage is deep. It’ll take time.”

 

“They?” Leia asked pointedly.

 

“You know who did this, saying it aloud won’t change anything.”

 

“Avoiding the truth doesn’t exactly help either!” she yelled.

 

He put his arm around her. “It’s not too late for Ben.”

 

“I’m not so sure.”

 

“Um, General?” Amira, the technician they’d sent over, said. “I think there’s something you’re going to want to see.”

 

Leia shot Luke to let him know that the conversation was definitely not over but nevertheless followed Amira to the computer where she was gesturing. Some kind of data, lots of numbers and symbols were downloading onto the screen at a truly alarming pace.

 

Alarm lanced through Leia. They should have known that the First Order would pull something like this. “What is that? Some kind of virus? Did the tracker do this?”

 

“The tracker did this but…it’s not a virus. It seems…accidental. There’s an incredible amount of data on this thing, the computer’s just downloading it all now.” She brought out a datapad. “I’ve had a look at what we’ve got so far but it’s all encoded. It took me an ten minutes just to work out the first line.”

 

“And?” Leia asked, impatiently.

 

“And it looks like a notice about the cleaning schedule for the communal showers,” Amira admitted, sounding almost apologetic.

 

Leia’s brow furrowed. “Why would they send us that? Are you _sure_ there’s not a virus embedded somewhere in the code?”

 

“Like I said, it looks accident. Like someone didn’t realise they’d left a sync function on and it just downloaded a bunch of random data from the First Order servers.”

 

Now her interest was piqued. “Do you think there could be anything useful on there?”

 

Amira shrugged, helplessly. “We would have no way of knowing until we decoded it all.”

 

“Technician, get as many people on this as you think you need. Let’s just hope there’s something on there.”

 

* * *

 

Kylo turned up in Hux’s room with a packed bag. He’d only just gotten there within the hour. Finding something suitable to wear had proved harder than he had thought. Most of his clothes were just variations on his customary robes and _all_ of his clothes sat in a big dark pile at the bottom on his wardrobe. It was incredibly difficult to distinguish between garments when they were pretty much all roughly the same colour and material. But he’d just about managed it.

 

Hux was lounging on a chair by the time he arrived there, looking entirely too relaxed. “What took you?” He didn’t wait for an answer. “Everything is arranged. We’re leaving on a shuttle in twenty minutes. It’s been logged as a ‘diplomatic mission’ and we’ll return the next morning with plenty of time to spare.”

 

Kylo tried not to look impressed. “Well, good. I found an outfit,” he offered.

 

“Let me guess, it’s all black.”

 

Kylo gave him a look of supreme smugness. “You’ll have to wait and see.”

 

“I’m on the edge of my seat,” Hux retorted but Kylo could feel his thoughts quite clearly.

 

“So you aren’t thinking about how you’ve only ever seen me naked or in robes?” Kylo blinked at him innocently.

 

Hux crossed his arms in front of his chest. “That’s an invasion of privacy.”

 

“Not my fault you’re thinking so loudly. You used to be so much better at keeping these things under wraps.”

 

“We’ve spent enough time talking. We need to get to the ship; it’s leaving soon.” Hux stood up and slung his own bag over his shoulder.

 

“Just because you’re losing the argument. It can’t exactly leave without us,” Kylo pointed out.

 

Hux gave a long-suffering sigh. “I have gone to extreme effort to make sure that this ridiculously short notice wedding can go ahead, so the least you can do is follow my schedule.”

 

Kylo gave Hux a peck on the cheek before forcing the helmet onto his head. “Alright, let’s go.”

 

Once the sight of the two of them coming out of Hux's quarters together would have been cause enough for suspicion but they were far past that point now. 

 

“Stop walking like that,” Hux said, under his breath, as they passed stormtroopers in the halls. 

 

_‘Like what?’_ He sent the thought directly to Hux’s mind. It was too difficult to talk quietly through the mask.

 

Hux pulled a face at the intrusion. “You’re practically skipping,” he said, in the same strained tones.

 

Kylo wouldn’t have gone that far but he supposed he had been walking with a bit of a spring in his step. He couldn’t help it. The adrenaline rush of getting away with doing something you shouldn’t was just too strong. He had to resist the urge to take Hux’s hand and just sprint through the hallways.

 

They had almost made it to the hangar without disruption when they were confronted with the sudden sight of Captain Phasma looming tall, blocking their path.

 

“I notice that a last minute planet-side excursion has been added to the schedule – logged as a diplomatic mission,” she said, bluntly. “What’s the big hurry? I thought things were settled on Wayland.”

 

“That is classified,” said Hux, smoothly. “Please step aside, our business is urgent.”

 

Phasma grabbed Hux’s arm and spoke so quietly that Kylo had to use the Force to hear her. “I don’t know what you’re doing but I feel certain that it’s a mistake.”

 

“Remove your hand.” Hux was icily calm.

 

She did not. “Think very carefully about what you are doing, Hux.”

 

“I have. Now remove your hand or he’ll remove it for you,” he jerked his head towards Kylo.

 

Kylo nodded.

 

She removed the hand. “Your choice, General.”

 

“Of course.” Kylo couldn’t tell what emotion was coming from Hux in that moment.

 

They proceeded to the ship unhindered by Phasma no more; Kylo made sure to knock her as he walked past.

 

“Childish,” Hux chided.

 

“You love that about me.”

 

* * *

 

 

"Now, I'm no strategist, but I think I may have found something important." Amira passed the datapad to Leia and pointed.

 

Leia's eyes widened as she read the line of deciphered text. "And I think you may just deserve a medal."

 

* * *

 

 

“We could play Dejarik,” Kylo suggested, after it became clear that it was going to take a while to get there. “That’s what I used to do on boring space journeys.”

 

“Fine,” said Hux.

 

“Well don’t sound too excited.” Kylo turned on the board and it lit up with the figures. “Although, I suppose there isn’t anything for you to get excited about: you are definitely going to lose.”

 

Hux leaned forward. “We’ll see.

 

* * *

 

 "I but- ugh. I was so sure I was going to win that time." Kylo threw up his hands in dismay after his 4th consecutive defeat.  Embarrassingly, the games hadn’t even lasted that long. He knew it had been a while since he’d last played but he’d thought he’d been trained up by the best. Of course, now that he thought about it, there was every chance that Chewbacca had just been letting him win. He winced internally at the thought of his childhood, of Chewbacca and his father teaching him how to play.  He steadied himself. He wouldn’t have to bear this for long…

 

Hux spoke and snapped Kylo out of his thoughts. "Sometimes it is advantageous to pretend that you are oblivious to an opponent's strategy and lull them into a false sense of security, whilst you uncover their plans." He gave Kylo a superior look. "Your flaw is that you get too locked into your strategies and fail to adapt them to the moves of your opponent. It makes you too easy to read."

 

Kylo rolled his eyes. "Or I just don't take these games as seriously as you do."

 

"Or maybe you're just a sore loser."

 

"Fine. Let's play something else - something with a bit of luck involved. How about Pazaak?" Kylo pulled out his cards for his side deck and waved them around. "I could give you some of my cards if you don't have one."

 

Hux raised an eyebrow and brought out his own deck. "It just so happens that I love Pazaak."

 

"Really? Well, I guess we'll see if you still love it after I beat you."

 

* * *

 

 

Hux ran his thumb along the underside of his chin. He looked entirely too deep in thought for a simple card game. He flipped up a +/- 4 card.

 

"Plus four or minus four?" Kylo asked, hollowly.

 

Hux gave him a withering look. "Minus four and oh look, I've got twenty exactly."

 

"How?" Kylo threw up his hands. "How have you managed to beat me three times in a row?"

 

Hux shrugged. "You consider this a game of chance but it is actually a game of tactics. Reacting to events beyond your control - to good or bad luck - is always part of the job of any good tactician. It's all about calculating the odds."

 

"You have a better side-deck than me," Kylo muttered.

 

"It also pays well to ensure that you have the best resources available," Hux added, in the closest thing he had to a sing-song voice. 

 

"You even manage to make Pazaak sound like life or death," Kylo groaned. 

 

"I'm sure you'd be able to beat me in a sparring match or lightsaber combat," Hux said, giving Kylo a patronising pat on the hand. 

 

Kylo scowled. "We could spar right now but I don't want you all bruised and bloody for the wedding."

 

"How considerate of you!" Hux mocked.

 

Kylo raised an eyebrow. "Well, I'm saving it all for the wedding night."

 

“Are you now?” Hux stood up, walked over and sat himself on Kylo’s lap, shuffling around to get comfortable, friction building up between them. He pulled back robes and buried his face into Kylo’s neck, planting soft kisses on the vulnerable skin.

 

Heat rose to Kylo’s face. “On second thoughts, we are on this ship for another forty minutes and there’s nothing much else to do.”

 

Hux abruptly drew back and grinned. “See, you’re so easy.”

 

“And you’re mean.”

 

Hux got up and went back to his own seat. “You wouldn’t have me any other way.”

 

“Fine. Well, I’m going to get ready then.” Kylo scooped up his bag and wandered in the direction of the bathroom.

 

“Is it really going to take you forty minutes?” Hux paused and considered. “I suppose you probably don’t even know how to put on regular person clothing.”

 

“You’re not one to talk. I’m surprised you even own anything aside from your uniform.” He cast his eyes over to Hux’s bag. “You get changed out here. I expect to see that coat gone by the time I’m out.” He walked into the bathroom before Hux had the chance to say anything back. The last word. Finally.

 

He slunk into the bathroom and went to open the bag but his hands were shaking too much. _‘Just let yourself have this,’_ he told himself. His hands steadied. He looked at himself in the mirror. His face was resolute. He opened up the bag and started to change.

 

* * *

 

 

He edged out of the bathroom half an hour later, almost as nervous as the first time he’d been completely unclothed before Hux.

 

"Well you look just about ready for a funeral."

 

Kylo tapped the side of his head. "If you don't tell me honestly, you know I can always get it out of you in other ways."

 

The trousers were the same as ever, just black, but he supposed that they would be acceptable. The shirt, however, was white. He'd worn it once on an undercover mission that had involved posing as a senator at a fancy dinner; he'd hated it then, hated having to parade around all dressed up and bare-faced, pretending to care about the long conversations about trade disputes he always seemed to get drawn into. He'd never thought that a day would come that he would be glad of it but here it was. It had been very crumpled, all scrunched into a ball at the very bottom of his wardrobe, so he'd had to get a droid in to iron out the creases, but it looked passable enough now. White wasn't exactly his colour but Hux's apparent suprise that he even owned clothing in colours other than black was gratifying enough. 

 

Finally Hux spoke. “You look…quite presentable.” His cheeks were tinged light pink.

 

“By your standards, that’s practically gushing.”

 

"Aren't you going to say how I look?" Hux asked, lazily assured of his own appearance. 

 

Kylo took it all in. Hux was wearing a well-fitted shirt made out of a slightly shiny dark-grey materials and adorned with silver buttons. His trousers were plain black but the cut accented his slim figure perfectly. Best of all, there was no coat. He looked so much more relaxed this way, so much more a person than the personification of the First Order he always tried to be.

 

"Lovely, as well you know - there's just one more thing." He put his fingers through Hux's hair and mussed it up a little. Hux pulled a face but didn't flinch away. "There. Perfect."

 

“You actually managed to make this look neat,” Hux said, softly running his fingers over Kylo’s hair, taking Kylo’s own touch as an invitation to touch back.

 

“Won’t last long.”

 

“No, not if I have anything to do with it.”

 

The ship beeped, the autopilot letting them know it was almost time to land.

 

“Guess I better go land this thing,” Kylo said, shrugging. The autopilot could land for them but he’d never liked the way that felt; he just had too many generations of pilot in his blood.

 

* * *

 

 

They walked into the building in unison, marching in step out of habit. The room was cavernous. High ceilings rose up above them in irregular domes and beams, making patterns on the ground like spiders’ webs. The light was dim, grey, a single white beam falling upon the altar. Kylo tried not to think about the cave. There was dust in the air. Hux’s hand was in his already. It felt cool, soothing against his.

 

The priestess was waiting for them at the altar. There were two droids standing by, serving as witnesses - witnesses whose minds could conveniently be wiped – which would have defeated the point if they were actually interested in proving the marriage to anyone but themselves.

 

“You’re here,” the priestess said, surveying the two of them with eerily pale purple eyes. The rest of her form was shaded by powder blue lace robes. “I wondered whether you were going to turn up.”

 

Kylo frowned. “We’re here. I told you we would be.”

 

Her eyes flicked between the two of them. “Then we shall start. You have already taken each other’s hands. That is good. Remain like this for the entire ceremony.”

 

Hux’s expression was bland but Kylo could catch the tails of his thoughts as they fleeted past: he wasn’t particularly enamoured with this place or that priestess. He didn’t let go of Kylo’s hand though.

 

She spoke words in her own language, rolling over Kylo like waves over an indifferent stone. He could tell Hux didn’t understand either. Hux spoke many languages but this language was old, secret. Hux held tighter onto his hand and Kylo felt himself reciprocating. There was energy building in the room; the motes of dust seemed to be moving faster. It was like he had drunk a whole bottle of Hux’s wine all at once and the unfamiliar world was just spinning on and on.

 

Hux’s grasp steadied him but he honestly looked a little woozy himself. Their eyes locked onto one another’s and Kylo was drowning in Hux’s pale green gaze and seeing his own dark eyes reflected back at him from Hux’s mind and that was all, nothing else. Everything shrunk. His hand felt like it was burning. 

 

“It’s done,” the priestess said after what felt like an eternity. “You can kiss if you like.”

 

He didn’t remember either of them moving but they were soon kissing all the same, their mouths crashing up against each other, minds still locked in that intense void. The scent of Hux was overwhelming, the touch of their skin so right it was unbearable. Kylo could feel it again, happiness so painful it pierced his chest like shards of bright glass.

 

“You can stop now,” the priestess said, flatly. “I have other things to do.”

 

They moved their faces apart but kept hold of each other’s hands.

 

“Let’s go,” Hux said and they were running, running like giddy idiots out of the building and through the streets.

 

“You do know where you’re going, don’t you?” Kylo breathed.

 

“I always know where I’m going.” Hux was leading him, pulling him down side-streets and alleyways.

 

Then he stopped. “This is it,” Hux pronounced.

 

Hux seemed to be talking to the person on the front desk for hours and Kylo just zoned out, staring straight ahead of him.

 

“Come on, it’s sorted,” Hux whispered to him.

 

Someone must have showed them to the room but Kylo couldn’t remember who. All he knew is that they were there and he was pushed up against a wall and Hux’s lips were on his again.

 

“I want this shirt off you,” Hux growled and Kylo looked down at his hand, fingers still interlocked with Hux’s. With supreme effort, he let go long enough for Hux to swiftly take care of the buttons, before launching forward to regain contact as soon as possible. He grabbed Hux’s face and pulled it to meet his own. Kylo’s lips felt chapped, swollen but he didn’t want to stop, didn’t want to move on to the next part yet, didn’t want the night to ever end.

 

“Is this what Force-bonding is?” Hux murmured after they had finally disengaged, his arms still wrapped around Kylo’s waist.

 

“Come on,” Kylo said, by way of answer. He took Hux’s hand and led him to the neatly made, unfamiliar bed. They made the inevitable fall onto the bed. Kylo’s back hit the mattress and Hux came crashing down on top of him.

 

Hux looked down at him, his expression a little pinched, slowly drinking in everything. He’d only looked at him like this once before. Kylo didn’t want to think about that night.

 

He didn’t say the word that was cycling endlessly on repeat in his head. “I love you.”

 

“I know.” Hux wet his lips. “And you know how I feel.”

 

“I do but could you please just say it?” Kylo begged, the words falling off his tongue so recklessly. 

 

“Since when are you so polite?” Hux looked pained, like he was calculating the risk in his head. He put his hand on Kylo’s face. “Alright then. Just this once.” He took a breath.  

 

* * *

 

Hux woke to an empty bed.

 

“Kylo?” he called out, uselessly, pointlessly, stupidly, because he already knew that he was gone.

 

Silence.

 

Hux scanned the room. Kylo’s things were gone and there was a note on the bed. Just one word: sorry.

 

Hux swore under his breath. He should have known better than to fall asleep.

 

Notes

And some people thought last chapter’s cliffhanger was bad…

 

And yes, I know that Force bonds don't work that way, Kylo knows it too, but the real question is, does Hux?

 

Amira is my OC I adapted from my unfinished novel (which I am neglecting to work on for this fanfic, ooops). As for the planet, I just chose pretty randomly from a list of planets in the EU (or Star Wars Legends or whatever it is we’re meant to call it these days); I mean, I get lost in the small town that I’ve lived in since before I can remember, I really can’t be expected to understand space geography, haha.

 

Thanks for all the comments on the last chapter (I save all the lovely comments in a special folder on my phone so I can look at them when I need a boost)! Please let me know what you think of this one too :)

 


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “What are your orders?”
> 
> “First, you are going to announce the public execution of Kylo Ren..."

Tw: suicidal ideation (indirectly)

 

“Where’s Ren?” Phasma asked when he got off the ship and Kylo did not follow. She didn’t sound as smug as he had expected but he felt like shoving her all the same.

 

He had looked for him for as long as he could remotely justify, even knowing it was pointless. Then again, he had married Kylo, even knowing that Kylo was lying to him. No, he had married him _because_ he was lying to him. It was no-one’s fault but his own that he had let his guard down enough to fall asleep. He was entirely to blame for losing control of the game piece named Kylo Ren. By all measures he had no reason to feel angry at anyone but himself about how this had turned out.

 

He burned with fury at the mere sound of Kylo’s name.

 

He kept his face as blank as he could. “That’s confidential.”

 

Phasma shook her head at the tired excuse. “Snoke has ordered to see you right away.” He could hear it in her voice: she didn’t think he was coming back.

 

Hux had known this was coming but that didn’t stop his blood from running cold. He had hoped that he might have a little bit more time to prepare, to fix the problem, before word got back to Snoke, but no. It seemed it was time to face his leader. He wasn’t convinced he was coming back either. He wondered if Kylo really would feel it if Snoke did kill him, if they would share the agony as equally as promised. He hoped so.

 

His mind had stopped running strategies. It was too late for that now. He would be killed or he would be spared. He just needed a chance. He could re-evaluate if he lived but that wasn’t really in his hands at this moment. He had lost control.

 

* * *

 

“General Hux,” Snoke’s hologram said. He looked down at him with blank eyes that could have been taken for placid, were it not for the fact that Hux knew better. “You’re angry.”

 

Hux was trying his best to mask his thoughts, his feelings, but Snoke was no Kylo Ren. Snoke was going to sense something whether he wanted it or not. He didn’t even seem to be probing, he just knew. “Yes,” he admitted, finally. There was no point trying to hide the truth.

 

“I am not adverse to anger when it serves our purpose,” he said. “So I must ask, is it still the Order that you serve?”

 

“Always.” Hux could hear some of that anger slip into his voice now. “I have never strayed from our goals.”

 

Snoke paused, assessing the truth of this answer. “Satisfactory,” he finally pronounced. “I can rely on you to serve now then?”

 

Hux could feel Snoke nudging him, trying to move him like a piece of a Dejarik board. The worst part was that part of him actually wanted to just surrender, to follow orders without question. He had to make the appearance of doing so anyway. He wondered if this was what Kylo felt all the time. A surge of anger boiled inside him again as he thought the name. “What are your orders?”

 

“First, you are going to announce the public execution of Kylo Ren, make sure that every being in the Galaxy knows. Set the date for tomorrow. Do not announce the location.”

 

“We don’t _have_ Ren,” he protested. It was the only protest his pride would allow him to give. The only one carved from logic and not the sunken, heavy feeling in his stomach or the twisted knot lodged in his throat.

 

Snoke’s upper lip curled slightly. “I am perfectly aware of that, General. You will announce it and he will come to us.”

 

“It will be done.”

 

“You will then move all the men on this ship down to the surface of Wayland.”

 

Hux did not flinch at the mention of that place, though he certainly had no desire to ever return there. “For what purpose, Supreme Leader? That's nearly half of our men.”

 

“The Resistance, Ren, they will find you there. Your troops will engage in combat with the Resistance and you will lead them up until the moment you find Ren and no further. He is your personal responsibility and your number one priority. You will capture him and bring him to me immediately,” Snoke’s voice was so lazy, laying out the steps one by one. Hux wondered what power it was that made him so sure of all of this. Oh, how he despised this detached, complacent creature. Oh, how he envied him. “You will put a communication through when you’re in the air and I will send you the co-ordinates."

 

Hux wondered if Snoke really was trying to get him killed. “Not to undersell my own skills but I don’t see _how_ I am supposed to best Ren in combat long enough for me to restrain him. He is - was - Master of the Knights of Ren. I can’t see how a blaster is going to do me any good against him.”

 

“I know my apprentice,” Snoke said, simply. “And you have weapons other than a blaster. Consider that.”

 

Hux did not know what he could possibly say to that so he said nothing. He bowed his head. The image of Kylo doing the same before the Supreme Leader flashed through his mind. He suddenly wanted to ask what Snoke would do to Kylo once he had been captured. He doubted very much that it would be a quick death if that was what Snoke intended. Or perhaps Snoke would have Kylo kill him to reaffirm his devotion for the cause – perhaps _that_ was why he had been spared for now.

 

“Go now. You have your orders,” Snoke pronounced. If he knew what Hux was thinking, he didn't show it. 

 

He left without asking.

 

* * *

 

 

IMPORTANT BULLETIN: KYLO REN, FORMER MASTER OF THE KNIGHTS OF REN, WILL BE PUBLICALLY EXECUTED TOMORROW AT MIDDAY FOR THE CRIME OF TREACHERY AGAINST THE FIRST ORDER. LET THIS STAND AS A WARNING TO ALL THOSE WHO DEFY THE ORDER’S RULE.

 

* * *

 

 

The whole ship shook. Shelves tilted and items came crashing the ground. Luke followed the trail to his twin sister’s room. “I take if you’ve seen.”

 

“My son was lost to me years ago, I don’t know why I-” She slammed her fist down on the desk. “You told me he wasn’t totally lost but, after Han, I just couldn’t believe. Now it’s too late.”

 

“You can’t blame yourself. I should have seen the signs; should have taught him better.” He sighed. “There’s still a chance for him. It’s not easy to contain a Jedi. There’s still hope that he could get out of there and find his way back to us.”

 

Leia shook her head. “No, no. We can’t just trust to hope. We have to go rescue him!”

 

“We don’t know where he is. I can't sense him - can you?"

 

Leia stopped and thought for a minute. “We have intel from the tracking probe. We thought it was an accident but the timing – what if that was Ben trying to communicate with us? We know that the First Order are moving a large number of their troops down to Wayland. That’s where he must be being held!”

 

 Luke sighed again. “I want to help Ben, I really do. I just have a bad feeling about this. We could be walking into a trap.”

 

“We know their position. We know they’re still vulnerable due to the current delay in the construction of the Starkiller II. Circumstances might never be this advantageous again.”

 

“You’re talking like a General but I know that you’re doing this for him.” Luke was struck with sudden guilt. This was his fault to begin with and here he was again, making excuses, running away from his responsibilities. Leia was right; they had to do this for Ben. “But who am I to question your judgement?”

 

“I just need to convince the fleet to mount an immediate attack.”

 

“I don’t think that will be too difficult. They worship the ground you walk on.”

 

“I’m going either way, you understand. I’m going with the fleet or I’m going alone. I’m going to get my boy.” Her eyes were blazing with determination.

 

It was a look that Luke knew all too well. He had always envied her spirit; sometimes he thought that Leia had gotten all of the strength for the two of them. She would never have just disappeared after a failing. “You’re not going alone. You’ll have me with you for one.”

 

She gave him a small smile. “I knew I could count on you.”

 

* * *

 

Hux paced in his quarters. It was time to recalculate, clearly. It would probably be easier if he had any idea of what Snoke’s plan actually was. Or if his brain wasn’t so fogged up with useless emotion that he couldn’t see past it to whatever Kylo’s half-formed strategy was. The way he saw it, he was caught. Master and apprentice were playing out their own mystical power struggle but he was the one who would get caught in the crossfire if he wasn’t careful. He just wasn’t sure what careful looked like any more.

 

Kylo’s mask stared at him from the bed. It’d been left behind after that night and Hux hadn’t had any other choice but to bring it back with him. It was evidence. He picked it up, holding it up to his own face. He resisted the urge to throw it against the wall, dismissed the impulse as entirely irrational. He put the helmet on instead. It felt too hot, his breath was trapped within the metal confines of the mask, but he didn’t take it off. It smelled like Kylo. He brushed that thought aside and decided to return to his pacing. It was surprisingly hard to see through the dark lenses of the helmet, and Hux was glad of his clean room, full of empty space, because he certainly would have tripped otherwise. Even without falling, he felt unsteady on his feet. For some reason, he had always presumed that the thing would actually be practical. Having met Kylo, he should have known better. He supposed that Kylo had just relied upon the Force to compensate for the helmet’s inadequacies rather than actually finding a design that would eliminate the need for expending such effort.

 

He needed to stop thinking about Kylo Ren, his mask, everything. He needed to concentrate on himself now, strange as it was that he actually had to force himself to do that. His priorities had always been self-preservation and self-advancement; the two worked together, twining around one another to form a single path. The best way to survive was to slowly amass as much power as possible. He’d not been reckless. Taking unnecessary risks for the chance at gain usually just lead to death and there was no power in that. He had always been in this for the long-game.

 

Somewhere along the way he’d added a third priority: keep Kylo Ren. It hadn’t been his intention, he’d never made that decision, but somewhere along the way it had snuck up on him. Somehow his ambitions had seemed incomplete without Kylo there with him. And he had accepted it. Kylo Ren had access to powers that Hux could only dream of. Together they were more powerful than either one would be alone. There was no conflict of interest.

 

But it was time to consider the facts. Kylo hadn’t thought twice about leaving him at the mercy of Snoke. There was no counting on him. He was a dangerously unstable element; an unreliable weapon that would just as soon backfire as hit the target. He had reached this revelation when the door panel buzzed. It was one of the officers to tell him that they were ready, no doubt, and right on schedule. Hux hastily took off the helmet and smoothed his hair back to its usual state, before letting the man in.

 

“We’re all ready to leave for the planet,” the Lieutenant reported, dutifully. He handed Hux a datapad.

 

Hux examined the information on datapad. “Excellent. We will depart at once.”

 

The Lieutenant saluted and turned to walk away.

 

“Actually, Lieutenant, I have one more task for you.”

 

The man turned to look at him, the picture of perfect obedience.

 

He picked up the helmet and handed it to the man. “Dispose of this relic of the traitor. It’s dead weight on this ship.”

 

* * *

 

Mud squelched unpleasantly under his boots as General Hux stepped out into a large section of artificially cleared rainforest on Wayland. The air was thick with humidity, hitting him with a wall of heat as he left the comfort of the temperature-controlled ship. He could feel sweat already start to bead around his temples beneath his command cap. He had done all necessary research before going there. He’d been aware that the towns were built on the cooler sections of the planet but he still hadn’t quite been prepared for the difference between this and the last time he had been there.

 

The ships landed and troopers started to disembark, carrying equipment out to properly set up camp. He continued to watch, giving orders where necessary. He was sweltering in his greatcoat but he did not take it off. The stormtroopers must have been roasting alive in those helmets but none of them would dream of taking the armour off. It would set a terrible example if he were to relinquish discipline and appear in anything less than full uniform. Still, that didn’t mean he had to like it. Why did Snoke have to choose this planet of all planets? Yes, it was strategically placed, and they had good relations with the people there, but he still had to wonder why Snoke would place them on a planet with a climate almost entirely unsuited for their forces. Perhaps the old creature had been hidden away for so long that he’d forgotten all about basic human needs.

 

Hux flinched as fat drops of rain started to fall. He was only mildly grateful that the cap shielded his face as he stood there, still as a stone, as water soaked through the thick material of his uniform. Stormtroopers scurried around faster, sliding around a little on the increasingly slick ground. The sound of water hitting their armour was increasingly loud.

 

A young officer approached him, looking extremely wet and very dishevelled. “The command tent is ready for you, General.”

 

Finally, some good news. 

 

* * *

 

 

A few hours later and he laid himself down for a few hours of rest before the inevitable battle. The ground was soft at least – not exactly great for fighting – but comfortable for camping. He lay on his back but sleep did not come to him. The material of the tent did not completely block out lights from outside, leaving the room in a state of dim greyness. 

 

He did not toss and turn. His arms and legs felt numb. His thoughts floated aimlessly along. Somewhere along the way he became aware of a presence next to him, a dark shadow lying on the bedroll next to him. He felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. He wanted to turn, to move, to do anything, but he was paralysed. He could feel heat radiating up against his side where the thing touched him.

 

It did not speak and he could not speak.

 

The smell was overwhelmingly familiar. Hux could practically taste it as he slowly breathed in and out, the only movement he was capable of. There was a touch against his face-

 

“General.” A voice and a sudden blast of light startled him into alertness.

 

He bolted up and looked around. There was no-one on the bedroll next to him. Of course. He hadn’t thought he had slept but now he was not so sure. He checked the time. Approximately three and a half hours had passed and his hair was damp and plastered to his head. He pushed it back out of his face. “What have you got to report?”

 

“Rebel ships are approaching,” the officer hold him, still holding the tent flap open. “We’ve seen them on our scanners.”

 

At least Snoke had been right about one thing, the rebels had come. They’d come for Kylo, he supposed, Kylo who had yet to appear. He’d been warned that they were sentimental fools. He cleared his throat before speaking. “Tell the troops to prepare for ground battle. If they want Ren alive, they can’t afford to shoot at us from the air.”

 

The officer nodded and retreated.

 

He hauled himself up, giving one last glance at the bedroll and put the outer layers of his uniform back on. He straightened it, pulling down to eliminate any wrinkles. This was it. Time to see if Snoke was right. 

 

* * *

 

“This is it,” Leia said, looking down at the planet which had just slid into view. “Wayland.”

 

Rey looked down at it, lush and green and felt her breath catch in her throat. Even after several months away from Jakku, she still hadn’t gotten used to such beauty. It was hard to imagine fighting happening down on a planet that looked so peaceful but that was what they had come for. “I can’t sense him. Are you sure he’s down there?”

 

Leia looked at her. “He’s there alright. I can feel him.”

 

Rey nodded. She trusted the General’s especially attuned senses when it came to her family. She wasn’t sure how she felt about coming all this way to rescue Ren, of all people, but she hoped for Leia’s sake that he really had turned. The rest they could figure out after they survived all this.

 

Finn wandered up. “They’ll have us on their scanners by now – they’ll be more than prepared for our attack by the time we land.”

 

Leia nodded. “This was never going to be easy. They’ll have him heavily guarded.”

 

Finn looked ahead and Rey could tell he was anxious. He always was before a fight. He didn’t quite seem to get that adrenaline rush the same way she did, the one that gave her moments of pure fearless fight. Finn’s instincts told him to run. But still he stayed, rushing into every battle at her side. In many ways, she thought he was far braver than she was, that he’d continue to fight despite the fact it terrified him. She was just glad that she had such a friend. She’d never really had anyone to count on before now.

 

“Hey, we promised Poe we’d come back, right?” Rey said, giving him a playful punch in the arm. “So we’re going to be fine.”

 

“It doesn’t feel right, coming here without him,” Finn said. Poe had begged and pleaded to be allowed to come along on the mission but the General’s decision had been final: he was in no fit state to go. Finn could see the logic in it. He had been through so much and it was clear that what his body needed was rest. But the light had gone from Poe’s eyes and Finn couldn’t help but wonder if flying with the Resistance again might not have helped to reawaken his old spirit.

 

“I know,” said Rey.

 

“We should look out for General Hux,” said Finn, suddenly changing track. “When we’re on the ground, that is. He and Ren despised each other – if anyone wants the pleasure of seeing him executed, it’s Hux. He’d be close to where Ren is being kept; he wouldn’t trust anyone else to get the job done.”

 

Leia nodded.

 

* * *

 

 

Resistance ships swooped down, landing on the battlefield. At last it had begun.

 

* * *

 

 

The Order’s forces had been pushed back towards the edge of the rainforest. The perfect discipline of the formations had broken and the troops had scattered in the chaos. Hux had shouted his orders but he doubt they’d been heard above the din of blasts and screams. They seemed spooked by the multiple warriors wielding lightsabers for the resistance, especially given the Order’s sudden deficiency in that area.

 

Hux backed up, not daring to turn, even for a second. He kept his blaster firmly up. The Resistance seemed to be gunning for him in particular.  Several times, they’d made an aim for him and stormtroopers had closed ranks around him to protect him. He supposed it would be flattering to be a priority target, if it weren’t so likely to get him killed or worse, captured. His caution was vindicated when he saw a Resistance soldier up ahead, running right at him. He pulled the trigger immediately. The Resistance soldier shot at the same time he did. He took a hit on the shoulder; his opponent took it to the chest, falling to the ground. Hux clasped his shoulder. It was searing with pain. He pressed down hard. He didn’t pull his hand away but he knew that if he did, he would come away with blood on his hands. He tightened his one-handed grasp on his blaster the best he could as he ducked behind a nearby tree, waiting for a minute to see if anyone had followed him. Satisfied that they hadn’t, he dropped his weapon on the ground and went rummaging through his coat pockets until he found the very basic medkit that he kept in an inner pocket.

 

He tried to open it one-handed but to no avail. He dropped his grasp on his arm, his fingers shakily undoing the packet. He would have to be quick. He pulled the bandage out and realised just a minute too late that applying it over the coat wouldn’t really work. He set the bandage on top of his blaster. He struggled to remove the coat, his wound smarting as the fabric brushed up against it. He grit his teeth so as not to make a noise. He threw it to the ground and took just a moment to breathe deep ragged breaths before starting on the outer shirt of his uniform. That was even worse to take off. It was designed for intimidation, not practicality. He wrestled hard with it, letting out a groan as he moved the injured area. Eventually, he was left in his undershirt. It was a slight relief to be rid of the heavy uniform, his skin felt cooler now that it was free against the air. He grabbed the bandage, pressing it up against the wound, and started to wind it tightly around the wound. After some effort, he managed to tie it off, glad to have done that at least.

 

His relief was short lived. He heard the crack of a branch. There was someone in the trees. He clawed for his blaster, raising it sharply up with both hands. Nothing. Then another sudden movement, a flash of white. Hux shot. Miss. He scrambled to his feet. His eyes darted around, desperately searching for any movement. The figure made a sudden break for him, white and black and blazing red all in a blur. Hux pulled the trigger before he could process who it was he saw before him. Kylo. The other man mostly managed to dodge the shot, it just glancing off his arm. The lightsaber flew from his hand, landing on the ground. Kylo continued forward without picking it up, leaping towards Hux, grasping at the gun – trying to take it from his hands.

 

Hux’s back slammed into a tree. He elbowed Kylo in the face and yanked him by the shoulders, pushing Kylo up against the tree. He stepped back, pointing his blaster squarely at Kylo. Kylo did not move. Hux did not shoot.

 

He realised now that Kylo was still wearing his wedding outfit. There were mud stains on the once-clean white of the shirt and there was a hole in the shirt where he’d shot at him. He was breathing heavily, his dark eyes burning with emotion. He still did not move. “This is very different from the last time we were here,” Hux remarked, managing to sound only slightly bitter. “What exactly is it that you think you’re doing, Kylo?”

 

“The call of the light was too strong,” Kylo said, dully. “It was always going to catch up to me at some point.” He looked wretched; his face was flushed and sweaty, large bags under his eyes. His hair fell lank against his head. “I know that there’s no convincing you to turn too – funny, it was you that sped my fall. I knew that when I married you but I went ahead anyway.”

 

Anger flashed through him for the briefest of seconds before being replaced with something else, something colder. He had a strange feeling about this; he believed Kylo up to a point but something was seriously off. “No, I won’t turn,” Hux confirmed. He watched carefully for Kylo's reaction.

 

“We’re on different sides now – you have your orders, I’m sure.” Kylo held up his hands. His face was contorted. “So if you are going to do it, you might as well get it over with.”

 

It clicked. Finally Kylo had shown his hand. He never was much of a strategist. 

 

“Give it up; I’m not going to kill you.” Hux gestured wide, training the barrel of the gun away from Kylo to demonstrate that he knew he was in no danger now. “That lightsaber could be back in your hand by now. You could have strangled me without so much as touching me. I’m _injured_ and you’re expecting me to believe that you couldn’t take me out just by thinking about it. No, you’ve given up. Let me guess, you decided that replicating Vader's death was the path for you after all? Well, don’t expect me to indulge you.”

 

Kylo sunk to the ground in defeat. Mud splashed as he fell to his hands and knees.

 

“Kylo,” Hux said, alarmed by the gentleness seeping in his voice. “You didn’t think this through, did you?”

 

“Ben,” Kylo corrected without conviction.

 

“Kylo,” Hux persisted, in one last desperate attempt. “You know what you need to do. You don’t need me to tell you.”

 

Kylo did not speak. His eyes were downcast, staring blankly through the muddy ground.

 

“I’m not going to kill you.” Hux felt his own face harden into an emotionless mask. “My orders are to take you to Snoke, so that’s what I will do.”

 

* * *

 

 

“There!” Leia pointed. “He’s on that ship.” She aimed her blaster, trying to prevent the thing from taking off, but the ship had already made it into the air. It zipped away.

 

Luke looked at her. “I’ll go after him.”

 

“No! You stay here, lead the troops. I’ll bring my son back.”

 

Notes

 

It was pretty fun to write this chapter mostly from Hux’s point of view; this fic has been so Kylo-centric that it was a nice change to write something a little different. Still, this is the chapter I've been most uncertain about so hopefully it turned out alright. 

 

My computer crashed when I was editing this chapter and I’m a little bit ill at the moment, so please forgive any typos/grammar errors I missed in the second (and very begrudgingly done) round of editing (feel free to point any out so I can fix ‘em).

 

As ever, comments are love <3

 


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kylo and Hux face their fates.

Warning: character deaths and some violence

 

“I have Ren,” Hux said into the comm-link.

 

“Good. I will send you the co-ordinates to the nav of your ship. It will take you where you need to go.”

 

The communication abruptly ended. Hux looked at the nav of the ship; sure enough it was on autopilot but to where, it would not show. Experimentally, he pressed a few buttons. The controls weren’t responding at all – he couldn’t even swerve one measly degree to the left. The ship was being controlled entirely remotely. Well that wasn’t alarming at all.

 

“You don’t know where we are going,” Kylo said. He was standing in front of the window, just looking out into the stars. In theory Hux should have restrained him but the fact was that he could only restrain Kylo if Kylo was willing to be restrained and there was no point doing it if he wasn’t going to put up a fight anyway. He almost wished he had tried though, Kylo just standing there and talking to him made it feel much too like they were in this together. Kylo probing his mind wasn't helping either. 

 

“Stop it.”

 

“I’m not in your mind,” Kylo clarified. “You’re just obvious.”

 

“Stop it,” Hux repeated. He didn't need Kylo pretending to know him either. 

 

Kylo said no more. Hux sat down in front of the control panels though it would do no good. Mostly he just wanted a reason not to look at Kylo. He wished desperately that he had something to do, anything that would occupy him. He had never been very good at being idle, even at the best of times. Even the most complex task would not have taken his mind off of what was about to happen but it at least would have been better than just sitting there waiting. He decided to re-bandage his wound now that he wasn't being shot at. He unwound the red-stained white bandage and tossed it into the bin. Very slowly, he cleaned the wound out with an anti-septic wipe, wincing as the liquid made contact with the open cut. Finally and with some difficulty, he pulled a new bandage around and around, taking the time to make it as even as possible. Finally, he tied it off, regretting that it hadn't taken longer. He looked over at Kylo. The blast had only just clipped him but that didn't mean that he couldn't benefit from...No, Hux would not ask. The wound clearly did not bother Kylo and he wasn't going to beg him for the privilege of tending it. Not when it was probably pointless anyway. 

 

He jolted as something suddenly flashed up on the monitor. “There’s a Resistance ship following us.” He wasn’t sure why he was telling Kylo this – maybe he just wanted to see how he’d react – maybe it was just because there was no-one else to talk to. Because in this moment they really were in it together, whether they wanted it or not.

 

“I know.” Kylo continued to stare out of the window. “It’s my mother.”

 

“Your mother? General Leia of the Resistance? I suppose they really are coming to rescue you.”

 

“Shoot to disable the ship,” Kylo commanded.

 

“I think you’re forgetting who the prisoner is here,” Hux drawled. Somehow his entire career had ended in this, in standing in the middle as Supreme Leader Snoke and General Leia of the Resistance fought over Kylo Ren like he was a dog-toy. He almost felt like laughing. Almost. 

 

“Whatever it is that Snoke has planned for me, you _don’t_ want my mother getting involved. She won’t stop until she gets her way.”

 

He supposed he did have a point there. “Shame you didn’t inherit any of that from her.” He made no effort to disguise his bitterness. This was the end, one way or another. Might as well be honest with each other for once.

 

Kylo said nothing and Hux hated himself for that miniscule hope that he hadn’t realised he had been holding onto. “I understand the logic of shooting her down but why should I keep her alive? She’s an important military target after all,” Hux said, coldly.

 

Kylo did not hesitate. “Because if you kill her my uncle will sense it and he will come running.”

 

“I see.” Hux’s tone was filled with scepticism. He knew full well why Kylo didn’t want him to shoot to kill.

 

“Either way, you have to do something,” Kylo insisted.

 

Hux had to admit that it was true. He got into the gun turret and use the viewfinder to scope out the target. He locked on and shot. Her ship dodged to the left. Miss. A shot fired back at them. It rebounded off the ship's shields. She was aiming to disable the weapons. He shot again – the ship slipped off to the other side. Miss. How was she doing this? Right - Force-sensitive. Ran in the family. He shot faster, hoping to throw her off with the speed and imprecision of his actions. Miss. Miss. Yet more misses. A panel beeped. Just one shot left. Why had Snoke given them such a pathetically armed ship? He lined up the shot. This was the one. This had to be the one. He did his best to shield his mind. He pulled the trigger. A hit – right in the engine - the ship fizzled a little. It ground to a halt.

 

He surveyed his work. His pride was saved at least - he hadn’t been called best marksman of the academy for nothing – not that it really mattered now. He got out of the turret and turned to Kylo. “There. The ship’s stopped.”

 

“You disabled it,” Kylo commented. 

 

“I was having trouble hitting her. My aim’s good but I suppose that doesn’t mean much when the Force is involved. It was the last shot left. It was all I could manage,” said Hux, robotically.

 

“I see,” said Kylo. He continued to look out the window at the frozen ship. His expression was unreadable.

 

He wasn’t in Hux’s head, at least not that he could feel it, but he still felt exposed.

 

Kylo suddenly stood up extremely straight. Hux ran up next to him. They were close but not touching. He looked out but he couldn’t see whatever it was that Kylo was seeing. Were there more Resistance ships after them? “What is it?”

 

Kylo’s brow was furrowed. “I don’t know, I just sense-”

 

* * *

 

Leia dropped the screwdriver she had been using to attempt repairs on her ship. It went clattering into a crevice but she paid no notice, she was too consumed by a sudden agonising pain. She’d felt this before. It was like when Han died but amplified a thousand times. Gone. They were all gone.

 

She slammed her fist into the control panel. She was powerless out here. Stuck. How many people did she have to lose? How many planets did she have to watch be destroyed from a distance?

 

She’d come to save Ben and she’d failed. She’d failed and gotten hundreds killed.

 

She hesitated for a long while before picking up the screwdriver again.

 

* * *

 

A red beam of light shot out furiously across space. There was an explosion of pale bright light, so far away it was like a pinprick. Kylo clutched his head as sudden searing pain shot through his brain. He could hear thousands of screams, merging indiscriminately into one great long wail. All he could see was red. He gasped for breath, breathing their last breaths with them.

 

Then they were gone and he was alone again. Silence stretched long and stark in the emptiness of space.

 

“That wasn’t my order,” Hux said, his voice was dried up in his throat. “There were thousands of my men down there.” He'd never had a taste for wanton destruction; the point of such a weapon was to act as a deterrent, to create order. It was not for this. He felt queasy. 

 

Kylo didn’t speak.

 

“That _was_ Wayland, right?” he asked. He didn’t really need the clarification. He just needed Kylo to speak. He’d never seen him look this way before. He looked pale and still but not calm. Never calm. He had thought that Kylo looked broken back on Wayland but this was worse. 

 

“My uncle is dead; Skywalker is dead,” Kylo pronounced, numbly. “The scavenger girl too.”

 

“Isn’t that what you always wanted?”

 

“Yes,” Kylo answered, immediately. “I just thought I’d be the one to do it.”

 

All semblance of control shattered and Kylo reached out suddenly, squeezing with Force. Several control panels flew loose and pelted across the room. He let out a low groan, grasped his head and then put up his hand again. He could still hear the screams, playing in a loop. The chair ripped out of the floor and crashed up against the windscreen. It bounced off without making a crack, catching Hux’s ankle as it clattered across the floor, scraping metal along the way. 

 

Hux stumbled. The entire ship was jittering. He was at once suddenly aware that they were hurtling through space in a piece of metal. It was piece of metal designed to withstand blasts from enemy ships and hits from stray asteroids but not the fully unleashed power of Kylo Ren. “Kylo!” Hux yelled.

 

Kylo either didn’t hear or didn’t care. He put his hands up again, attacking yet more of the ship. The panels vibrated, the wires hanging on to the wall for dear life.

 

“Kylo stop!” Hux stepped in front of him and was immediately caught in pull of the Force. He slid over to Kylo and their bodies smashed together. The fell to the floor, Hux’s body lodged solidly on top of Kylo. Kylo thrashed underneath him. Hux dug in with his less than substantial weight.

 

“You were pulling out the life-support system,” Hux croaked out. He couldn’t hold Kylo for much longer. “It would have killed the both of us!”

 

This prospect did not appear to faze Kylo. His face was flushed red, full of fury. He reached out and grabbed at Hux’s neck.

 

“I didn’t do this. You know I didn’t do this,” he spluttered. He wasn't sure Kylo even knew it was him; he seemed to look right through him. He gasped as Kylo tightened his grip. The ship seemed to tip from side to side. The Force or lack of oxygen? Hux didn’t know. He flailed his arms, swatting uselessly against Kylo’s arms. The room seemed to dim, his arms falling limply by his sides, he was on the verge of passing out. “Kylo, please,” he just about managed.

 

At the sound of his name Kylo dropped his grip, the colour from his face draining. Hux gasped, taking in a giant breath. He had never been so grateful for something as simple as breathing. He rolled off of Kylo, lying on the ship floor, just listening to the sound of his breath rising and falling. Kylo got up, looking around at what he had done in disbelief. His eyes darted wildly before fixing on Hux. He leant down and offered Hux a hand. It was as good as an apology as Kylo could give. Hux took the hand because what else was he going to do? They stood side by side again as they continued to advance, path unaltered by Kylo’s destruction of large parts of the ship. They must be close by now.

 

“You know he probably wanted this,” Hux ventured. They had so little time left, caution was a luxury they couldn’t afford now. “Snoke. He must have known all along what you were going to do, he was probably counting on it. The Resistance wouldn’t have taken on the risk of this attack if they didn’t think it was the only chance to save you.”

 

Kylo’s face twitched.

 

“He knew about us and he allowed it continue because it suited his purposes. He allowed you to think that you were keeping the truth from him but he’s been playing you all along. Playing the both of us. He destroyed thousands of our men down on that planet. He wouldn’t hesitate to destroy the both of us.”

 

“Don’t,” said Kylo. His face had returned back to its state of blankness, like all his rage had drained away. “Even if what you say is true, there’s nothing we can do now. If Snoke is that powerful, I don’t see what you expect either of us to do about it.”

 

So he really had given up. He had hoped that Kylo’s anger might have meant something, that the fury of his outburst might have propelled him into action. That there might have been a chance. Looked like it was just a death-throe. One last rendition of the song of his lifetime. Hux knew that his words were just wasted now. So he retreated back to his own habits. He stood there, back straight, and watched out the window – as though he were back on the Finalizer, just doing his job.

 

It had come down to death with dignity or death with disgrace. Neither option had much appeal.

 

“There’s a planet up ahead,” Kylo said.

 

So this really was it.

 

A few minutes later it slid into Hux’s view. It was so close, they were practically on the ground already. He should have been able to see it long before then. He supposed this was some trick, some kind of Force shielding or whatever. He was so tired for these Force-users and their tricks. “Is he here?”

 

Kylo nodded. “I can sense him.”

 

They hadn’t torn their hands apart yet. Hux was gripping on tightly now.

 

The door of the ship opened, steam blasting out of the sides. There was a straight path ahead, leading up to very ordinary looking house. The house was made out of a sandy brown rock – the path was made out of the same stone too - and was of modest size.  He looked around. The path was surrounded by steep, jagged rock-face. He looked down over the side. He could not see the bottom. No-where to go. It wasn’t what Kylo had expected. The place felt calm, neutral. He supposed he had imagined something dark and grand, a fortress or a palace, not a house that looked like it might belong to an old recluse living a life of quiet contemplation. It wasn’t like the cave. There were no waves of dark energy coming from the place. Snoke had always projected such a grand image but Kylo could feel only the barest hint of power here.

 

“I don’t know what planet we’re on,” Hux said, sounding irritated, as though that were the main concern for them right now.

 

“That’s probably the point.” Kylo had been wanting to come here, wherever here was, for so long. He had so desired to earn the right to be in the true presence of his master, to be by his side again. He hadn’t seen him face to face since he was a small boy and those memories were so distant that he wasn’t convinced that they weren’t just dreams. Now the day had come and the only reason he was there was because he had betrayed his training.

 

Kylo could feel Hux’s instinct to run, to go back to the ship and try to over-ride the nav controls and fly off this planet, never to return again. Hux stepped forward. His grip on Kylo’s hand was vice-like. Kylo followed. They walked briskly down the path. Time to get this over with.

 

* * *

 

They entered the house and found themselves in a small hallway leading directly to a room with double-doors thrown open so they could see the Supreme Leader still and waiting for them. Snoke was sitting on his throne, a much smaller replica of the one that they had in his projection room. He really was a shrivelled, pathetic looking creature, Hux thought. Much shorter than either he or Ren. But he knew that appearances could be deceiving. This thing had managed to tame Ren with just the sound of his voice, had managed to line up all the pieces so that they were all right where he wanted them. Hux wondered what the point of all this was. 

 

“General Hux,” Snoke addressed him.

 

“I’ve brought Ren,” said Hux, pulling Kylo forward by the hand. There was no point to this charade, to calling Kylo ‘Ren’, to pretending that Kylo hadn’t come here of his own free will, but he was so used to it by now that he slid right back into his role so easily. He hated himself for it but he hated Snoke more.

 

“So I can see.”

 

They stood there and Snoke just looked at Kylo. Kylo bowed his head slightly under the gaze.

 

“What-” Hux stopped himself before he asked a foolish question. “What are your orders now?”

 

Snoke did not look at him. “You have done all I need of you. Leave us now.”

 

Hux didn’t move. An objection lodged in his throat.

 

“I trust that I do not need to repeat myself, General.” There was no threat in Snoke’s voice because there was no need for one. Everything was going according to Snoke’s design.

 

Kylo turned to look at him and nodded but his dark eyes were filled with fear. Hux had never felt less powerful in his life. He gave Kylo one last look, taking a mental picture of Kylo exactly has he was now. With extreme effort, he let go of Kylo’s hand. He turned and walked as slowly out of the room that he possibly justify, as though that might make some difference. Finally, he crossed the border back into the hallway and the doors slammed closed behind him.

 

Hux hovered out in the hallway, unsure of what to do. The other rooms in the house were inaccessible to him. The doors were all closed and there were no door-handles. He guessed the only way to open them was with the Force. The ship was locked on the planet. Kylo and Snoke were lost to him. He sat down on the floor, resting his back against the dusty wall. All he could do was wait. All he could do was hope. He hated hope. 

 

* * *

 

 

Kylo’s connection to Hux abruptly severed as the doors flew shut. He reached out with the Force but there was nothing but silence. He really was alone.

 

“Master,” he said and he was ashamed to hear his voice quaver.

 

Snoke held out his hands wide. “Oh my apprentice, what have you done? I was so impressed with your progress and then you just go and throw it all away for what? Surely you must see the power of the dark side now that Skywalker is eliminated.”

 

“I do,” Kylo said. There were unshed tears in his eyes. “I see it. I feel it more than ever.”

 

“Because you’re angry,” said Snoke, gently.

 

“Yes.” It was one short word but it was burning with emotion.

 

“You see now why I destroyed that planet? I destroyed it just for you, my wayward apprentice.”

 

Kylo was silent.

 

“Aren’t you the least bit grateful?” There was the slightest of edges in Snoke’s voice now, giving way to outright fury within the shortest of instants. “This shouldn’t have been necessary in the first place! I’ve given you everything you needed and you have still yet to kill your greatest enemy. You have yet to kill the vestiges of Ben Solo. You weak fool.”

 

Kylo hung his head. Snoke was right. “What will you do with me?”

 

Snoke’s face returned to its normal mask-like state. “I am a merciful master. I still see much potential in you. I will allow you one last chance to complete your journey to the dark side, though I warn you the training will not be pleasant. You must relinquish your former identity completely, you must destroy Ben Solo and Kylo Ren and become nobody. Do you understand? That way you can truly become the instrument of the dark side. That way you can be free of all your weaknesses.”

 

Kylo was overcome. He wanted desperately to fall at Snoke’s feet, to beg his forgiveness, to burst into tears of joy that he had been given this second chance and he would have done it, if it not for the disgrace it would have made of him. He believed again, believed in a way that he hadn’t done for weeks, that he could truly extinguish the light within him. The idea of obliterating himself, of starting completely over, sounded so good. He just wanted this conflict to end. 

 

Snoke shook his head at him. “I see your thoughts, apprentice. I see the doubt that was in your mind. Did I not correct your Uncle’s lie and tell you how Vader really died? Did I not make it clear that there was no choice in Vader’s death? That he was struck down by a vengeful and hypocritical son?”

 

Kylo nodded. “Yes, Master, you did. It wasn’t-” He reached desperately for an explanation, something that would justify his decision but he found none. His doubts seemed so petty, so childish now. Pangs of shame lanced through him.

 

“Why then did you attempt to follow the path of the lie?” The rebuke in Snoke’s voice was gentle but it stabbed into Kylo like a thousand tiny shards of glass. “Was your Uncle’s hold really still so strong? I had thought that you had shed your Jedi brainwashing.”

 

Kylo made no reply. There was nothing he could say. Snoke was completely right.

 

Snoke continued. “I have killed him for you because I knew you could not.”

 

“T-thank you, master,” Kylo managed.

 

“I have always done anything you needed and I always _will_.”

 

Kylo’s head snapped up. Snoke had imbued that last word with significance – significance he couldn’t quite grasp. “Master?”

 

“I had your pet General bring you here.” Snoke stroked his chin thoughtfully. “It’s strange. He has always been such a reliable instrument, a precisely calibrated weapon. His loyalties have never been in doubt. He never doubted the right of the Order to rule – you couldn’t find a man less likely to defect to the Resistance. He should have made you stronger but you just made each other weaker.”

 

All the air left Kylo’s lungs. It was like a swift punch to the gut. No! He was supposed to have avoided this. He had lost all hope for himself but Hux, Hux was supposed to be safe. Hux had never strayed from his path and Snoke knew that. Hux didn’t deserve to be punished for Kylo’s mistakes. Not when Kylo was being given another chance. He slammed his fists into the ground. The ground did not yield. The Force just reverberated uselessly against it, dissipating into nothing.

 

“You can keep him,” Snoke said, unperturbed by the display. “You can keep him just as long as you walk the path. Do you understand me, apprentice?”

 

“I understand, thank you, master. I promise I won’t stray again.” He held back tears of pure relief, bowing his head to conceal the shininess of his eyes. It would be alright. He could keep Hux. He just needed to stay on the path. He could do it this time; he had a guarantee now.

 

Snoke did not conceal the sneer as he looked at his apprentice. “Weak. Possession, that we allow, but you have allowed yourself to become corrupted with emotion. I have taught you better than that.”

 

Kylo realised too late, all too late that it was all a test. He looked up at Snoke and found only cold calculation in the creature’s eyes. His thoughts were shielded as they ever had been but Kylo could see what he was thinking all the same. Snoke was trying to fix the weapon formerly known as Kylo Ren by breaking the humanity of the person who had once been known as Ben. Corrosive anger welled uselessly within him. Skywalker was dead, and he had promised once again to walk the path, but he was still broken in the eyes of his Master. He was still weak in his own eyes. 

 

“My offer was sincere,” said Snoke, disgust still evident in his tone. “You can keep him as long as you feel you need to. It’s your choice.”

 

Kylo knew what Snoke needed him to do.

 

Phasma had asked him once what the light felt like. He hadn’t told her but the answer had burned inside him regardless. The light side felt like guilt.

 

No-one had ever asked him what the dark side felt like. If you had asked him a few months ago he would have told you it felt like freedom. Freedom from the chains of the hypocritical light, freedom to act as his instincts told him. The dark side didn’t feel like freedom any more. It felt like guilt.

 

He stepped forward. “I will do what I have to, master.”

 

Kylo drew his lightsaber, activating its unstable power. He turned towards the door and then spun right back. The blade met flesh.

 

* * *

 

Hux sat still slumped outside the door. Whatever was happening was taking a long time. He’d always known that it wouldn’t be a quick death if death were to be Kylo’s fate. He couldn’t hear anything but the absence of screams did not mean that Kylo was safe. It just meant the room was soundproof.

 

The doors slid open, light spilling into the hallway. Kylo came stumbling out. He was covered in blood.

 

He looked at Hux with red-rimmed eyes. “I’ve done what you wanted. I hope you’re happy.”

 

Notes

 

I feel kind of bad for just killing so many characters off screen (as it were) but it didn’t really make sense any other way. RIP Luke, Rey, Finn and all the other nameless Resistance fighters and stormtroopers.

 

One more chapter left – I can’t believe we’re at this point already!

 

Thanks to everyone who left comments on previous chapters. I’d love any feedback you have on this one too!

 


	9. Chapter 9

He looked at Hux with red-rimmed eyes. “I’ve done what you wanted. I hope you’re happy.”

 

Treacherous, fluttering hope rose in Hux’s chest despite Kylo’s unhappy demeanour. He rushed over to kiss him, to embrace him, to do anything. He just needed to touch Kylo, to confirm that he was real and not some cruel hallucination created by Snoke to trick him. When the doors had slammed behind him, trapping Kylo alone with Snoke, he had truly thought that it was the end. That he would never see Kylo alive again.

 

Kylo slapped Hux’s hands away. “Don’t touch me.”

 

His stinging skin was proof enough that this Kylo was real. Hux pulled back, slumping back on the floor. Force, he was exhausted. His eyes scanned Kylo. The blood was pale blue and therefore obviously not Kylo’s but a lack of visible physical injuries didn’t mean that Kylo wasn’t hurt in other ways. Snoke had probably left thousands of invisible scars on Kylo over the years. “What happened?”

 

Kylo didn’t so much make the decision to sit as his legs decided for him by collapsing under him. He put his head in his hands. He was getting blood on his face but he didn’t care. The world was spinning. He hadn’t meant to do this but he couldn’t take it back. He let out a sound somewhere between a sob and a retch.

 

“Kylo!” Hux supposed he should try to comfort the other man but he’d never been much good at any of that. The best option was to get him to talk, Hux decided. Diagnose the problem, then try to solve it. “Snap out of it! What happened? Is he dead?”

 

He actually held his breath for a moment as he waited for Kylo’s answer. Everything would seem to suggest that but there was a part of him that just couldn’t believe. Snoke had loomed over their lives for so long.

 

“Yes,” said Kylo, in between shuddery breaths. “I killed him.”

 

Hux’s whole body relaxed, tensed muscles unfurling in a rush. “It had to be done. He would have killed you.”

 

Kylo looked up. His lip was trembling. “He forgave me.”

 

“What?”

 

“He forgave me,” Kylo repeated, his tone ascending suddenly. Fury flashed in his eyes. “He forgave me but I killed him because of _you_. _”_

 

“He threatened me,” Hux guessed, keeping his tone level. He had suspected that might end up being the case. “Or he wanted you to kill me yourself.”

 

“He said it was my choice. I could keep you if I wanted to,” Kylo said, hollowly.

 

Hux snorted. He couldn’t help it. “But not a real choice.”

 

“It was!” Kylo stood up, gesturing wildly with his hands. “But I just had your damn voice in my head telling me to kill him. You’ve infected me with all your suspicions and your paranoia – I knew my master better than that but I listened to you and I…You used me! You wanted to clear the path for your ambitions, you wanted Snoke dead. I was just your weapon of choice.”

 

It was like a dam breaking, releasing an unstoppable torrent of water. He leapt up, mirroring Kylo’s posture. “Don’t you realise that I have no power in this situation? You could Force-choke me to death or slice me up the same way you did Snoke. Or you could fix the ship and fly off this planet and leave me to slowly starve to death. Or you could stay here and keep me as your prisoner. You could put hallucinations in my head and make me think I was free. There are thousands of things you could do to me and I wouldn’t be able to do a thing to stop you. I didn’t plan any of this! I’ve just been sitting here waiting to see if you would get out alive!”

 

“I-” Kylo started. Uncertainty had crept into his features.

 

“Let me finish. You killed Snoke. That was your own choice. You chose to be free of his control.”

 

“It didn’t cure me.” It was a desperate confession. “Killing Snoke – didn’t tip the scale. I can still feel both: light and dark.” It had been so clear the moment before he had delivered the killing blow. He hadn’t wanted the dark or the light but what did that leave him with?

 

Hux grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him. “So what? Do you still think that life actually works that way? Normal people don’t think like that – it’s just brainwashing from both sides of this ridiculous cult. You know all this – why else did you kill Snoke?”

 

Kylo had no answer to that. It had seemed simple in that moment. He’d acted out of impulse for so long but he’d always managed to keep that side locked down around his master. Now he had killed him and he might never again get to feel those brief flashes of self-control. He might be stuck like this forever, torn in two, nowhere to belong. 

 

“Vader killed his master, did he not?” Hux pressed, though he wasn’t sure it was even about that anymore for Kylo. “The story is that Emperor Palpatine threatened Vader’s son and that was the last straw, Vader had to kill him.”

 

Kylo felt his eyes well up at the familiar story, the story his late uncle had told him over a campfire, the story that Snoke had told him was a lie. He couldn’t trust either one. He might never know the truth but both versions had one thing in common: Vader had died that night. He wasn’t left to stumble on without the guidance of his master.

 

“And you thought I was a traitor when you realised my feelings for you,” Hux stated, changing tack abruptly. 

 

“Yes,” Kylo admitted. He wasn’t sure what Hux was getting at but the surprise gave him a brief reprieve from his thoughts at least.

 

“But I hadn’t changed. My goals were the same,” Hux continued.

 

Kylo remembered going into Hux’s mind that day and finding it very much the same as it had ever been: orderly, focused, full of hunger for _more_ of everything. The only difference had been the feeling Hux had shoved into a corner, dark and largely hidden even from himself. He had been so convinced of what he had felt then but all his memories were suspect now.

 

He stood there for a good long while and Hux knew not to press. He could feel Kylo reaching out at the edges of his mind. He relaxed all his defences, letting Kylo enter, giving him access to everything. The touch of Kylo’s mind was surprisingly gentle, like he was sifting aimlessly through memories, not searching for anything specifically. There were things in his mind of which to be ashamed but he didn’t try to hide. If anything, they’d help Kylo to understand.

 

“You have changed,” said Kylo, softly, finally. “When we first started this you cared nothing for me. I was just another territory to conquer. It’s not like that now.” Love was no longer hidden in Hux’s mind. It blazed front and centre despite Hux’s efforts to keep the fire contained.

 

“No, it’s not.” Hux looked down, then hesitantly brought his head back up. There was no point being afraid of saying words when Kylo had seen it all in his mind already. “I love you. I’m loyal to the Order. There doesn’t have to be a conflict.” _If you stay_. That he didn’t say and he hoped Kylo couldn’t hear. Kylo had agreed it wasn’t the same now but was there really a difference between wanting to possess someone and hoping desperately that they would stay? What was marriage if not an attempt to cage another person to you forever? He always had fought so hard against being the type of person who had _feelings_ that he didn’t know what to do now he actually wanted to be that person.

 

“I proposed knowing how you would react if I left,” responded Kylo. “I was counting on it.”

 

So he had heard. “And I accepted knowing that you didn’t really mean it.”

 

Kylo grasped Hux’s hands, the touch taking him back to that day with such clarity. “I did mean it. That was the problem, I did mean it.”

 

“I’m sure you know by now that I did too. Like you said, you were counting on it.”

 

In a sense both of them had been outmanoeuvred. There was another stretch of silence; everything seemed to have already been said.

 

“If we leave this planet, what will you do?” Kylo asked, eventually. It was only half an ‘if’ at this point. He had no intention of keeping Hux here against his will. He just wasn’t sure he’d follow. It seemed impossible to imagine himself back out in the galaxy again. Perhaps he should just stay here, take over from Snoke as far as he could, dedicate his life to meditation.

 

Hux sighed. “You know what I’ll do. Snoke’s gone – I may not have made you do it but I’m not going to let a chance like that pass me by. The Order needs rebuilding and an Empire needs someone to lead.”

 

“And what about me? Will I serve you? Be your protection against rebellion and assassination attempts?” He didn’t _want_ to stay in this place but he needed something to go back for. He’d seen Hux’s dream many times and he’d always seen himself there but his role had never been very well defined. In the years since he’d turned, he’d never seen himself being anything but Snoke’s apprentice.

 

“You? You will do exactly as you choose. I can’t tell you what to do. You can be my right-hand man if that’s what you wish, or you can leave the Order and start a new life somewhere. You can even put us on different sides again and join what’s left of the Resistance if that’s really what you want.” He wouldn’t spare Kylo if he really did defect, they both knew that, but it wasn’t a threat, just unpleasant reality rearing its ugly head again. He wouldn’t go out of his way to kill him and that was the most telling thing of all. 

 

“I don’t want to go back to the light. And I’m not sure there’s even much of a Resistance to go back to after what Snoke did.” He bit down on his lip. The copper tang of his own blood filled his mouth. “If there’s anyone who can restore order now, it’s you.”

 

A rare, genuine, unguarded smile flashed over Hux’s face. Inspiration like lightning stuck him hard and fast. “Well, I don’t wish to influence you. You’re free of masters now. But I do have another idea…”

 

Kylo gave an involuntary gasp as he saw the image in Hux’s mind. He’d never considered this. Hux had never considered this before just now either because Kylo had never seen it in any of his explorations. “You really want this? More than…”

 

“I’m not Snoke. Neither are you,” said Hux. “Like I said, I meant it then. I mean it now.”

 

Kylo made his choice.

 

* * *

 

Hux stood on the platform and looked out over the mass of troops. Even through the masks he could tell they were unsettled. He stood up straight and straightened his new uniform. This all rested on his ability to sell his vision. They needed him to reassure them. He took a breath and started to speak. 

 

“Mere days ago we experienced a great tragedy. Former Supreme Leader Snoke turned against his own order and ruthlessly slaughtered thousands of our men. The Resistance has been crippled but at great cost to our own organisation - too great a cost. Kylo Ren, former apprentice of Snoke, uncovered Snoke’s plan and made a heroic attempt to stop it from happening before it was too late. For this reason, Snoke had him declared him a traitor to be executed in an attempt to mask his own acts of treachery. But despite his efforts, Kylo Ren prevailed and rid us of this menace. Snoke lives no longer!” Hux paused, allowing the crowd to take it in before continuing. “Kylo Ren has taken the place of his former-master in this organisation. He will no doubt rule with great strength, as we re-establish control over all remaining systems, but for too long the lives of ordinary people have been dictated to by the whims of Force-users, neglecting to listen to the voices of those who lack such supernatural gifts. So this will not be an Empire ruled by Kylo Ren alone. For the sake of every system in the galaxy, we have come to a decision. The First Order will be led by two Emperors, equal in power, and bound together in marriage.”

 

He stopped again, allowing time for Kylo to enter the stage through a door. He was dressed in full robes minus the helmet. He could hear stormtroopers attempt to repress gasps of surprise as they looked upon Kylo Ren for the first time without his mask, standing fully human before them. Not a creature in a mask after all. Kylo swept up the centre and joined Hux on the podium. They exchanged looks, making sure not to smile. This was a solemn occasion.

 

Kylo began to speak, hoping that he would remember all his lines. He had written the first draft but Hux had been the one to polish it. Hux was far better at this than him but they’d agreed that he did have to say at least a few lines. “The former-General has aided me greatly in defeating Snoke and has a proven track record in the field. He has overseen the creation of our greatest weapon and will ensure that such tremendous technology be used only for the greater good of our Empire and its people. Together we will lead you to victory over those in the galaxy that might rebel against us. Together we will be strong!”

 

 “May I present Emperor Hux and Emperor Ren, leaders of the First Order and builders of a new Empire,” Phasma called out. Gaining her support had been crucial to this plan given her influence over the troops. He had thought it might be difficult, based on her initial reaction to his decision to pursue Kylo, but Phasma was a pragmatic person: she knew where the future of the Order lay. Hux had also had to concede full control of the stormtrooper training programmes to her, something they'd long fought over, but sacrifices had to be made in the pursuit of power. 

 

They linked their fingers together and thrust their gloved hands up into the air.

 

The previously silent crowd of stormtroopers started a rhythmic cheer, pumping their fists in the air.

 

* * *

 

 

Kylo was lounging on their bed when Hux came in after several long hours of work. The weeks since their ascendancy had been so filled with endless strategic meetings, technical discussions with the R&D department, and overblown ceremonies, that they had barely had a moment to themselves.

 

“They’re taking bets on how long this marriage is going to last before one of us kills the other,” said Hux, casually, taking off the crown of laurel leaves and setting on the bedside table.

 

“Most of them think that I’m going to kill you first opportunity,” Kylo added. “But there’s a sizeable minority think that you’re going to poison me before I get the chance.”

 

“I’m so glad the masses have grasped the true nature of our relationship,” Hux drawled, starting on the buttons of his dress-coat. “Even if the majority are definitely backing the wrong horse.”

 

“Well, they do seem to be under the impression that this a marriage built solely on politics.” Kylo knew; he’d seen it in their minds. Phasma seemed to be the only person who actually had any inkling of the truth. “So they think we’ll wait to rebuild the Empire and then each make a bid to become sole Emperor.”

 

“Well let them, it’ll keep them on their toes. If all they’re obsessing over is whether their treachery in our relationship, then they’re not thinking treasonous thoughts of their own – though I’m sure you’d hear it if they were.” Hux stripped the coat off and folded it neatly over a chair. He flopped onto the bed and gave Kylo a quick kiss before pulling out a wretched datapad. Oh how Kylo has grown to loathe their presence in their bedroom.

 

Kylo gave a loud sigh. Hux scrolled down the messages on his datapad, ignoring Kylo’s obvious plea for attention.

 

“Hux,” Kylo whined. “I know you’ve got a lot of work to do but can you just please just leave it for fifteen minutes? You know I’m leaving with the troops tomorrow. Who knows when I might be back?”

 

“I’m well aware of your schedule.” Hux did not look away from the datapad but he raised an eyebrow. “And fifteen minutes, really?”

 

“More like half an hour…”

 

Hux was doing a very good impression of a statue holding a datapad.

 

“You’ve forced me to do this!” Kylo stretched out his hand and the datapad came sailing out of Hux’s grasp.

 

He shot Kylo an exasperated look. “So childish. What would the people say if they saw Emperor Ren lowering himself so?”

 

“That comes now that I actually have your full attention.” He projected an image directly into Hux’s mind.

 

Hux sat up a little straighter. “I am not opposed to the proposition but can I just-” he grabbed for the datapad suspended in the air. “I just need to finish…”

 

Kylo floated the datapad across the room, opening a draw and stashing it firmly in there. “Focus, my Emperor, focus.”

 

Hux turned to look at him and Kylo caught him in a kiss. Hux relented and stopped grasping at air, putting his hands to much better use by starting on Kylo’s shirt buttons.

 

“You’ll miss me whilst I’m away,” said Kylo, grinning as Hux stripped him of the shirt.

 

“How many times must I tell you that it’s unnecessary for you to tell me my feelings?” Hux muttered, already starting on Kylo’s trousers.

 

Kylo planted several kisses on the visible strip of neck above Hux’s collar. “I’ll miss you too.”

 

Hux made a rather unattractive snorting sound. “I’m well aware of that. You’re far too easy to read, Emperor Ren.”

 

“Well, if _someone_ hadn’t thrown away my mask, it might not be a problem.”

 

Hux thrust his hand past Kylo’s boxers, grasping his cock firmly in his fist. “Oh, we’re back to that are we? If I recall, you weren’t so happy about keeping the mask on that first time.”

 

“You were a real bastard.” His voice was a mix of fondness and genuine irritation.

 

Hux’s lips curved into a smirk. “And you were just adorably pathetic, crashing into my room in the middle of the night to give me a very poor excuse for a handjob.” He started to move his hand in smooth, rhythmic strokes as if to accent the fact of Kylo’s poor technique by showing him the proper way to do it.

 

Kylo gave a little moan. “Yeah, well at least _I_ did something. You just spent all your days in unspoken, all consuming lust, not bold enough to make a move.”

 

“You’re a worse mind-reader than I really think that’s how I spent my all time,” Hux breathed.

 

“Ahhh,” Kylo gasped, coming close under Hux’s patient ministrations. “Sorry, shouldn’t have used the past tense there.”

 

Whatever reply Hux had started to make was drowned out by the sound of Kylo loudly coming. The sound of Kylo’s breathing was the only sound for a while.

 

“At least you’ll let me touch you now. You used to run out before I even had the chance to offer,” Hux added, smugly.

 

Kylo gave a loud groan. “I thought that we had finished with this…”

 

“We’re nowhere near finished. I haven’t even touched on the time when you proposed to me out of no-where then left me on the wedding night.”

 

“Too soon,” Kylo said, flatly, his jaw clenching.

 

“Aw, don’t be like that,” Hux said, pressing a mocking kiss to Kylo’s jaw. “We might have lost the wedding but we won the marriage, as the saying goes.”

 

Kylo tried his best not to smile but he couldn’t help it. “That’s not how the saying goes.”

 

“I’m Emperor, the saying goes however I say it goes,” Hux drawled.

 

“As joint-Emperor I exercise my power of veto,” said Kylo, in his best imitation of Hux. That phrase had been uttered a few too many times in their meetings recently.

 

“You won’t be here to use that veto tomorrow,” Hux said, darkly. He stroked Kylo’s hair, tangling his fingers up in its silky smoothness.

 

Kylo closed his eyes and relaxed into the sensation. “Because I’m going away or because you’re planning to poison me?”

 

“You won’t know until it’s far too late.”

 

Kylo gave a sleepy smile. “Mmm, nice to keep the excitement in our relationship.”

 

Hux shifted up closer to Kylo, his body radiating pleasant heat. He suppressed a yawn. "You know, we never actually got around to doing that thing you sent to my mind. I'm starting to think you're just a tease."

 

"Something to look forward to when you get back," Kylo mumbled. "So I guess you can't kill me after all."

 

Hux said nothing, just buried his head against Kylo's shoulder. 

 

_“He’s actually letting me have the last word,”_ Kylo thought before falling into a deep and dreamless sleep in Hux’s arms.

 

 

End

Notes

 

So that’s it, that’s the end of this fic and it’s a relatively happy ending for our two villains. From the start I wanted to tell a story about two terrible people and have them both develop as people without them having to change sides or go through a redemption arc. Hopefully I succeeded (the ending is a bit tooth-rotting, I know XD).

 

I’m going to work on one-shots/my piece for the Kylux Big Bang (if you’re a fanfic writer and you’re interested, go sign up here: http://kyluxbigbang.tumblr.com/) but I think I’ll probably return to this ‘verse at some point. I think it’d be fun to pick up with Leia and Poe at some point to see how they react to so many of their friends dying & Kylo and Hux’s new Emperorship (by fun, I of course mean soul crushing).

 

Thank you so much to anyone to left comments or Kudos! Reading all the lovely comments really brightened my days. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about the last chapter/the fic as a whole! <3


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